If there was a real life meetup nearby, I'd probably go. In fact, I might be willing to organize one. I met several CF-ers years ago, and it was fun. They haven't posted in the Singles section for a long time, however, as I think they're all married now. I've yet to meet any of the currently active members. For all I know, we're mostly interacting with bots and foreign troll farms now but the people I met way back when seemed genuine enough. We got along surprisingly well.
Whatever we share here is public. Even back then I was wary of social media for this reason, but we were all good about asking permission before sharing photos etc. That might be more difficult behind computer screens. Recording software is more advanced now, and I've seen people upload videos without their permission. Although I don't recall the details, the gist of it is that they called people out in a video on YouTube and said negative things while sharing photos and screen names. It was creepy.
If we've already met in person or have a long history of interacting on the board or through DMs, I might be more open to a Zoom meeting, but I don't necessarily want to be recorded by potentially strange people on the internet.
Do I think it would be fun? Yes! It probably would be. Am I willing to take the risk at this time? Probably not. The chance is too high that there will be somebody on there who shouldn't, and I also wouldn't want to see anyone get heckled or otherwise harassed by them.
That being said, I might be open to meeting in virtual reality. Meeting as an avatar in the same virtual space feels similar to meeting in person and is probably the safest medium of all. As the technology improves and becomes more accessible, the feasibility increases. Maybe this will be a more realistic option 5 years from now. As it stands, expecting others here to have fancy headsets and trackers is probably asking too much. Not everybody can justify the cost and time involved even if they can technically afford it.
For me, CF is mostly a way to read and share thoughts about topics, with relative anonymity, from the comfort of home. There are also elements of iron sharpening iron and putting thoughts into writing. It can even feel a little like journaling at times. I'm not necessarily here to meet people, and that's possibly true for others. Nice if it happens, but it can also be nice to keep at a distance. Some of us lead busy lives, and time spent here can be a welcomed escape.
