It's a frustration of mine when people propose technological solutions to social problems. Facebook, twitter, et al. are absolutely horrible substitutes for real human interaction. Real-life interaction can be intimidating for some but are a very real necessity. We're built to read body language and receive a strong, low-level, satisfaction from doing so.
How does this sound? I'd love to see this forum act as a networking spring-board; maybe YCombinator Cambridge would be so kind as to provide space for a meet-up?
Technology is a poor replacement for human interaction, but I take what I can get.
I'm also in Boston, or rather one of the Boston suburbs. I'm pretty sure there are other Boston folks around. So if somebody could propose a time and a space...
I'm afraid that without official support any attempt to organize a meet-up would yield similar results compared to past attempts. PG -- chime in!!
I currently live in Boston close to the Mass Ave bridge, but spend a decent amount of time roaming coffeeshops in both Boston and Cambridge.
I'd propose a meetup this Thursday (the 3rd) evening or Sunday (the 6th) evening either at Diesal Cafe in Sommerville (my favorite coffeeshop to hack in http://www.diesel-cafe.com/ accessible via the T), or the Espresso Royale on comm ave.
I'll bring my cofounder, and maybe 1 or 2 friends if anyone's around and interested.
I don't really either. But I lurk anyway, because then I'm caught-up on all the discussions and can jump in when I'm taking a break from coding.
Personally, I like chatrooms because they're much better for networking. I'm much more inclined to visit the startup of someone I converse with (as opposed to comment with), I'm more likely to make introductions for them, recommend them for jobs, etc. Basically, I could consider someone that I spend a fair amount of time chatting with a "friend", while someone who I only talk to on message boards is a "professional acquaintance".
This is mostly because of everything you dislike about chatrooms: they're disorganized, they tend to veer off-topic, they devolve into social chitchat, they're spontaneous, and they take up lots of time. You don't really know a person until you see how they behave spontaneously, when they aren't thinking out their response. Hell, I probably seem significantly less intelligent in chats than on here. But it's that vulnerability that makes me trust folks I chat with real-time more than folks I discuss with on a message board.
BTW, I'm also in #news.yc on EFnet, along with Jey. Kinda quiet there at the moment (I think we're both working on startups), but that's just because it hasn't reached critical mass.