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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?

#171

Post by ativzzz »

kortex wrote: post #74
ellisd wrote: post #19

Raves, particularly ones that are designed to be “transformative” like Lightning in a Bottle in California. Music festivals with camping are magical ways to build community and inspire yourself around other like minded and curious people. I never attended these events until a near death experience prioritized my love of dancing in my early 30. Now nearly 10 years later I'm even more convinced this is the way.

How do you find out about these? I hear about some by word of mouth but I'd like to accelerate the process.

I've found one by going to smaller EDM/DJ sets on weekdays and talking to people - it's not a huge crowd so people tend to chill and chat. Never ended up going to the actual event - it was more of a local burner/art event, but it was definitely a word of mouth kind of thing

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

#172

Post by silisili »

Fervicus wrote: post #166
silisili wrote: post #88

My neighborhood. When we moved in we sat out front every evening, and made small talk with every single person who walked by. Some were caught off guard, some kinda just waved and moved on, but most stopped to talk. What's interesting is that people who had lived in that neighborhood nearly 20 years together had never talked, and met for the first time as both stopped to chat at nearly the same time. Then we started…

I am curious. Which country do you live in?

Southwestern USA.

Which is kinda funny as my wife hates it and wants to move because gardening here is really hard-to-impossible, but she doesn't want to give up our great neighborhood, so we're at an impasse.

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

#173

Post by foobarbecue »

I think community is the main reason (EDIT: I meant to say ONE OF THE main reasonS) people go to church, not for the magical guy-in-the-sky stuff.

Someone here in my small beach city started a "Secular Society" which is a bit of a reaction to how religious this area is. The concept is that we don't have to be religious to get together and hang out. Only a couple meetings so far, but it's been fun!

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

#175

Post by jonah »

Volunteer public service organizations.

Some years ago I was looking for an activity to get into that met the following needs:

  * Helps others
  * Physically active
  * Outdoors / in nature
  * Requires specialized skills
  * Gives back to the community
I was entertaining things like the local trail building groups when an article about our local Search and Rescue team mentioned they were having a recruiting meeting the next week. I applied and was accepted.

It's a highly rewarding activity - literally saving peoples lives at times - with a high-calibre of like-minded people from an incredibly diverse array of backgrounds.

I've recently moved away though and in my new area, I've joined the volunteer fire department which has a lot of the same features and benefits.

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

#176

Post by slothtrop »

andreynering wrote: post #3

The church is like a second family for me. I made so many great friends there! Of course it will not be for everyone, but if you are open to it you can try.

I expect sect/denomination has an influence here because my experiences in the past were strictly familial, no one made friends there though there are familiar faces. Once service is over, it was Sunday brunch with family.

At any rate, potential friendship is a weak rationalization for joining a religion when there are many avenues to do this.

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

#177

Post by CoastalCoder »

LouisSayers wrote: post #164
CoastalCoder wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> Deciding what's true can be a challenge. It's not too hard when you hear ridiculous stories and treat them as if they were to happen today. The one I remember from the church event was about a big guy that couldn't be subdued and then ended up breaking through chains. So many questions from a single statement. Everyone else literally sat there and didn't blink an eye.

> It's not too hard when you hear ridiculous stories and treat them as if they were to happen today.

Maybe it hinges on which parts of the stories you imagining happening today.

E.g., if Jesus rose from the dead next week, I'd find it pretty thought-provoking. If he were merely crucified but stayed dead, I'd cross Christianity of my list of plausible world views.

I.e., a lot really depends on whether or not those miraculous events actually happened.

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

#178

Post by gabugabu »

Role-Playing Game conventions. Absolutely astounding how much community I’ve found there. Headed to North Texas RPG Con this weekend, in fact. It’s amazing what using your imagination around a table with a bunch of fellow geeks can do for your feeling of belonging in the universe.

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

#179

Post by bcrosby95 »

Fervicus wrote: post #166
silisili wrote: post #88

My neighborhood. When we moved in we sat out front every evening, and made small talk with every single person who walked by. Some were caught off guard, some kinda just waved and moved on, but most stopped to talk. What's interesting is that people who had lived in that neighborhood nearly 20 years together had never talked, and met for the first time as both stopped to chat at nearly the same time. Then we started…

I am curious. Which country do you live in?

I'm not the person you're replying to, but we did this in an LA suburb.

Among other things that have resulted from it:

One of our neighbors invites everyone over for 4th of July every year. We have a block party where we block off the street once or twice per year. Neighbors have been over for backyard parties, my wife goes to birthday lunches with the wives on the street, and there's a giant text thread where people ask for help/etc for things.

During the first year of covid, we did a special neighborhood Halloween, where everyone on the block put out bags of candy for neighborhood kids to go house to house and pick up.

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

#180

Post by bombcar »

silisili wrote: post #172
Fervicus wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am curious. Which country do you live in?

Southwestern USA. Which is kinda funny as my wife hates it and wants to move because gardening here is really hard-to-impossible, but she doesn't want to give up our great neighborhood, so we're at an impasse.

Gardening should be possible in the southwest, but you may have to utilize greenhouses or whatever the opposite of one is. Much of the "desert" will bloom if you pour enough water on it (and drip irrigation does wonders).

But you can't do a "midwest" style garden.

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