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wporr

This could work, but people would need to embrace it for it to work. These things tend to turn into hookup sites or platforms for other unintended interaction.
I agree that this is the most important part of the post, and it should probably be emphasized even more. I'm probably going to write a post about this in itself.

Curious about the studies you mention. Have any names or links?

I think that more niche communities tend to be more valuable, but they still run the issue of intellectual isolation
I didnt have time to talk about it, but I think that the COVID crisis could be helpful for maturing this part of the internet. Its not that I dont think its possible for serendipity to be found online, but that we still need to develop a framework that is able to mimic it well