Hi PearceHawk,
It’s counter-intuitive, I know.
At the end of the day, I was still sitting alone, behind a desk, talking to people who didn’t know me IRL. And then if you try to start a community you think, things like, “How many people visited my page? Why is this other person online more successful than me? Why am I doing this?”
I think if you’re already connected IRL, then an online presence makes sense. But even if you do get an online community, unless you have a following big enough for city meet-ups, you will never meet any of your people IRL.