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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?

#391

Post by HaZeust »

brendev wrote: post #261
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've got a similar situation here in Baltimore. The community I'm a part of here is like nothing I've ever experienced. We actually have a neighborhood telegram chat of ~70 people where we post about neighborhood events, parties, etc. My wife and I have a great circle of friends within this community and it led us to buy a house a few years back(before the market got all wild). We just had our first kid, and there's…

Is this Baltimore County or City? Up in Milford Mill, I wish I could say this was the case for my neighborhood.

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

#392

Post by rozap »

spike021 wrote: post #371

I'm part of a regional car community for a specific sports car model. I've probably been involved for 6 years now. Originally the regional club had a board with people volunteering to have some responsibility for their subregion (parts of the Bay Area). I first got involved just as a member going to meet ups. Then I became a board member about four years ago. Helped host some meets and other events. Then COVID happen…

The car community is super big and diverse. I found my niche in budget endurance racing, since it's basically hacking on cars. There's really something for everyone.

Good on you for organizing stuff. People get a lot out of it.

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

#393

Post by joelegner »

carlosjobim wrote: post #376
mptest wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>In many places it is just a pure scam Seems a pretty overly strong statement, no? Is there any research in to percentage of non profit efforts that are/aren't legitimate? Can you elaborate on "what I saw then" that made you think it was indicative of the entire idea of volunteer work? I have had the opposite experience. All the best people in the world I've met have been volunteering for one thing or another. As a y…

> Can you elaborate on "what I saw then" that made you think it was indicative of the entire idea of volunteer work? Yes, I was looking to do international volunteer work and used the internet to search for opportunities, since I knew nobody with experience. Fully willing to pay for my own travels of course. All I could find was programs where you had to pay thousands of dollars, your own food and your own board in o…

Perhaps you and the other posters are talking past each other. For me the word “volunteering” conjures thoughts of spending some weekends doing things for local charities within easy driving distance of my home, not paying to travel overseas. I suspect most Americans at least would see it my way, which is why the other posters are incredulous at your seeming dismissal of “most” volunteer organizations.

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

#395

Post by ra »

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…

Wife and I volunteer for our kids school, and also the kids weekend sports (Soccer, Cricket). We've made a lot of friends through that and because it's all local a strong sense of community between all the families that get involved.

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

#396

Post by gen220 »

bradlys wrote: post #388
stevage wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's weird, I have done quite a bit of top-roping and bouldering, but never really found it conducive to making friendships. Or maybe I'm just not the right demographic (early 40s, male). Definitely I chat to people about specific problems, but it never really seems to go beyond that.

I’m an early 30s male and I’m in your shoes as well. I found it to not be a very conducive space. I think it does vary a lot. I’ve only climbed significantly in NYC and SF. I’ve done some in PDX but not regularly. I didn’t find any of the gyms I was at to be very “community” oriented. I think the personal experience depends a hell of a lot on how good of a climber you are and how you look. Typical tech looking guys w…

Where did you climb in NYC, just curious? I've climbed here for a couple years, and found it to be really welcoming and inclusive of people from all backgrounds, tech included.

I mean, if you show up as a "[stereo]typical tech-looking guy" anywhere in America you'll get some disdain, in the same way that looking like a wall street guy would have gotten you disdain in 2008 +/- 10 years.

Maybe... don't flaunt the fact that you work in tech? It's a space that values humility, and tech is (stereotypically) anti-correlated with humility. I've never really felt uncomfortable for it, speaking personally.

As to the friendship discussion, it's kind of on your charisma and the other person's acceptance of it to move the conversation from bouldering to life in general, but it's a nice open window that I see swinging in the wind every time I go! Just don't wear headphones, and keep yourself approachable and supportive.

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

#397

Post by omneity »

stevage wrote: post #381
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…

Definitely! I like gardening. I started volunteering in a community garden, growing stuff for people who need more food. I like the people I work with, and I enjoy growing vegetables on a bigger scale than I can do in my own garden. And they make tea and cake, and often we get to take home some spare seedlings or whatever. It's really great, it doesn't feel anything like "free labour", it mostly feels like hanging ou…

This is such a great idea! I'm passionate about gardening but my passion is greater than the available space I have for it :')

How did you get started? Did you just offer your help directly to the community garden?

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

#398

Post by carlosjobim »

joelegner wrote: post #393
carlosjobim wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can you elaborate on "what I saw then" that made you think it was indicative of the entire idea of volunteer work? Yes, I was looking to do international volunteer work and used the internet to search for opportunities, since I knew nobody with experience. Fully willing to pay for my own travels of course. All I could find was programs where you had to pay thousands of dollars, your own food and your own board in o…

Perhaps you and the other posters are talking past each other. For me the word “volunteering” conjures thoughts of spending some weekends doing things for local charities within easy driving distance of my home, not paying to travel overseas. I suspect most Americans at least would see it my way, which is why the other posters are incredulous at your seeming dismissal of “most” volunteer organizations.

Yes, I think you're right, it certainly seems to be the case. However, I wrote "many", not "most".

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

#399

Post by roflyear »

ss108 wrote: post #162
roflyear wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the bible is... what exactly? :)

This is a stupidly glib comment. The poster meant that the reality of life as a Jehova's Witness cannot be gleaned from looking at some document of the religion, and I think you knew that, but decided to take a shot at the Bible anyways because you've been acculturated to think that dunking on religion is both correct and acceptable.

It should be acceptable, why not?

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

#400

Post by roflyear »

geocrasher wrote: post #147
TylerE wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, JW are, to put it mildly, nuts. They also outlaw blood transfusions . They literally expect you to just die if you experience any sort of trauma.

That's right, we choose not to accept blood transfusions. But, "literally expect you to just die if you experience any sort of trauma." is outright wrong. We strongly value life! We spend a lot of time and resources to understand transfusion alternatives, of which there are many, and we each individually make the decisions as to what types of treatment we will accept. If you want to find out what we actually believe:…

Would JW like to outlaw transfusions? Like, do many of them believe it should be illegal, like many catholics believe birth control should be illegal?
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