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Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

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Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#151

Post by 3minus1 »

senthil_rajasek wrote: post #8

I played tennis in a rec league a long time ago. It was not community but a substitute for light social interaction. I guess similar things exist for Golf and pickleball. I grew up in India and now live in the U.S. Socializing or being a part of a community is surprisingly very very hard.

The nice thing about pickleball is that it's often drop in play, so you can show up whenever is convenient for you and play with random people. This is indeed a light social interaction, but the people who regular eventually get to know each other. Where I live there is a strong pickleball community.

Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#153

Post by mcook08 »

F3 https://f3nation.com

I was feeling very lonely working remote. We moved to a Memphis TN to be closer to family and I was struggling with feeling like an outsider. I grew up playing sports and tried CrossFit but hated paying so much for a gym. F3 workouts are free and I thought I was going for the fitness aspect, but the fellowship is what really stuck. Guys hung out after workouts and it was great to meet so many guys from so many different walks of life.

Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#154

Post by carabiner »

kelseyfrog wrote: post #138

Bumble BFF is where I found my way into a local queer women's bookclub that also a is a space to form ad hoc meetups, do hikes, and generally make friends. Discord is another, oddly enough. The story is a bit messy, but there was an "offical" server attacked to a subreddit for my location (think r/ ). That was, frankly, a terrible server, but I eventually found myself migrating onto a splinter server with a few other…

I tried bumble bff as a guy, and it was just gay men trying to sexually assault me.

Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#155

Post by f154hfds »

Zetice wrote: post #34
geocrasher wrote: post #25

You asked, so I'll tell you: My local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses. https://jw.org . I've never been happier in my life, and the sense of purpose, community, and security has never been higher. I won't espouse any religious teachings here, that's what the link above is for should you choose to visit it. The most amazing part is that it's genuine and trustworthy. It's all made of imperfect humans to be sure, bu…

Eh, it's genuine as long as you subscribe to their set of beliefs. This may not be a problem for you, but for folks who care about reality, it could be more difficult. The difference between this and say, a rec soccer team, is that it's an all-or-nothing endeavor. You can't "casually" become a Jehovah's Witness (or any other religion), you have to decide that your entire life is aligned to those principles. I'm not k…

Religions are very different. Imagine Islam vs. Buddhism for example. The GP point is a valid one: fellowship alongside a shared set of core beliefs is invaluable. The problem is not all shared beliefs have equal merit.

I could be a white supremacist and find great fellowship with other white supremacists but this would be destructive in the long run, in the short term to others due to my prejudice but in the longer term to myself because those beliefs are objectively abhorrent. But not all shared belief systems are abhorrent.

Instead, groups of people for centuries have found camaraderie exploring what it means to follow a certain historical figure, Jesus Christ. Looking at his teachings you can see that this will lead to vastly different outcomes than following a Joseph Smith, a Muhammad, a Richard Dawkins, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#156

Post by jmcdowell »

torvald wrote: post #18

Hackerspaces! Check this list [0], maybe there is one close to you – and if you by any chance live in Oslo – swing by Hackeriet [1]. [0] https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/List_of_Hacker_Spaces [1] https://hackeriet.no/index.en.html

Out of interest, do you find many working on software projects at hacker spaces? Each one I've looked at online seems to have more of a focus on hardware, electronics, metal/wood working with little mention of software. The caveat is that I've only really looked at UK based ones so this may be regional.

I've been trying to find a space that has a similar energy as my old university CS lab. There was a bit of a perfect time in my final year, whereafter 2+ years most people seemed to know each other and at the same time everyone was specialising in their degree. So you could walk into the lab and find people working deep in their own game engine code, others would be working on ML models and others may be working on mobile apps or websites. But with a sense of overall camaraderie and sharing of what you're working on and why.

I suppose it just sounds like I'm describing something like a WeWork but when I've attended those they seem much more employee focused and I rarely saw employees of different companies talk to each other.

I also realise that some of what I describe is often fulfilled by talking to others at your workplace, I'm fully remote so I am missing out on that part.

If anyone knows of anything similar to what I describe above in or near London feel free to reach out to the email in my profile!

Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#157

Post by CoastalCoder »

LouisSayers wrote: post #117
Zetice wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, it's genuine as long as you subscribe to their set of beliefs. This may not be a problem for you, but for folks who care about reality, it could be more difficult. The difference between this and say, a rec soccer team, is that it's an all-or-nothing endeavor. You can't "casually" become a Jehovah's Witness (or any other religion), you have to decide that your entire life is aligned to those principles. I'm not k…

My mum some years back got involved in a church (as a non religious person). She somehow ended up giving talks at church events and got invited to speak out of town (she would talk about subjects such as helping refugees etc). Eventually though she felt like she was being excluded in subtle ways and being asked to give too much of her time. I also went to a couplebbible reading events some years back (free food lol)…

> Religion is weird.

I think it's fair to say that there are people who:

{believe | disbelieve} x {true things | false things} x {for good reasons | for bad reasons}.

Deciding what's true can be a challenge.

Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#158

Post by nickelcitymario »

Daniel_92 wrote: post #152

Church. If you've never been, give it a few tries. Often the people suck, but if you find the right niche its lifechanging.

Not to be preachy, but I'd second this. I don't really attend anymore, but for a while, my local church was a safe haven from the stresses of both my professional and personal life.

That said, over time I found it impossible to reconcile my church's teachings with my own values, and haven't found another that I'd be more comfortable with. But I would never deny that they were a crucial part of me rebuilding my life when I was on the ropes.

For anyone who isn't particularly religious, if you live in a fairly big city, you can probably find some faith group that aligns with your values, whatever they may be. In smaller towns and communities, you kinda get what you get.

Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#159

Post by raintrees »

University of Reason and No Agenda Social for online. The rest in the real world, playing music with others, putting on musical concerts of other musicians, garden club, permaculture club. Helping neighbors with their property projects, them helping me with mine.

Re: Ask HN: Where have you found community outside of work?

#160

Post by donnfelker »

A fitness community. This could be either a BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) place or even a CrossFit gym. I've done both and while I'm not here to promote CrossFit, I am here to say that a group fitness class is awesome for meeting other people and finding a community of people that do something similar as you, but have absolutely nothing to do with your work.

I workout with Police officers, Lawyers, Doctors, Dentists, Stay at home moms, Accountants, Students, other tech folks, etc, you name it they're all there.

There's something about "shared misery" that brings people together and builds a comrade. That turns into a community where you start to hang out with them out of the gym/etc.

This happens at any group fitness place where the same people show up at the same time to do the same thing. It's natural, organic and freeing.

I've moved across the country 3 times now and this is how I integrated into each area I moved into.

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