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

Post by gervwyk » Tue, May 30, 2023, 10:38 PM UTC

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…

Post by ericyd » Tue, May 30, 2023, 10:39 PM UTC

carlosjobim wrote: post #247

osdoorp wrote: post #114

Volunteering. And before you brush it out skeptically, like "oh yeah right, those people", it really doesn't have to be anything you don't care about. I volunteer at a boat house on the city lake nearby, just putting kids on pedal boats and kayaks. I don't even call it volunteering, I just love kayaks and water. It's amazing how your perspective of time and people and service shifts, when you spend some time being "i…

I think volunteering gets brushed off because in many places it is just a pure scam. The organizations collect money and then charge volunteers exorbitant sums for the privilege of working for free. I looked at volunteering about 15 years ago and from what I saw then, I have never entertained the thought again.

Post by driscoll42 » Tue, May 30, 2023, 10:40 PM UTC

leesalminen wrote: post #150

ljsocal wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I joined a local Rotary club twenty years ago (in my mid-40s) and it’s become a pillar of my social health and personal productivity. Service clubs like Rotary (Lions, Kiwanis,etc) are facing an existential demographic crash right at a time when people have a renewed interest in IRL social/community engagement. Fingers crossed that resolves!

I tried applying to my local rotary club online in 2019. Basically just a web form expressing interest. I got an automated email saying someone would reach out in the next 30 days. I was met with complete radio silence. Never heard anything back at all. I was a Rotary exchange student 20 years ago which completely changed the trajectory of my life (for the better), and was excited to help the next generation with bec…

Post by BjoernKW » Tue, May 30, 2023, 10:44 PM UTC

erulabs wrote: post #238

PenguinCoder wrote: post #224

I've found it in Freemasonry. A sense of purpose and brotherhood, community support, etc. Being a part of the fraternity has introduced me to many other aspects of everything, but especially non-technical people. Knowing and being around men that also strive to be a better person, resonated with me. I don't have enough time to devote to their various projects and meetings, but what I can give, I do; and that is alway…

There is a beautiful Freemason temple about 2 blocks from my house, one of my favorite buildings in the area. How does one get an invite to an event?

Post by silisili » Tue, May 30, 2023, 10:45 PM UTC

quicklime wrote: post #264

silisili wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excellent question. I live in a neighborhood where each house has 1 acre of land, so a couple hundred feet between houses? Maybe 100-150 houses in the neighborhood. Perfectly flat, few to no big trees or shrubs that would obscure a house - it's in a desert, after all. What's funny is I picked it because I was tired of having bad neighbors in my previous city. I told my wife this way, I can have bad neighbors, but at…

In a typical evening, how many neighbors walk by? I used to live in a suburb with literally 10x the density, and the only time I ever saw my immediate neighbors was if we both happened to be walking from our front doors to our cars at the same time.