In this case the interesting thing is tracking how many cultures we form, and what factors control this rate.
The “old web” vs. “new web” seems interesting along this dimension; quite possibly the thing that seemed different about the phpBB days compared to reddit/twitter/Facebook is that an independent forum felt like more its own culture than, say, a Facebook group or a subreddit. I have the vague impression that Discord servers are more “culture-like” than other modern options, but are considerably less durable and discoverable, which seems sad.
The “old web” vs. “new web” seems interesting along this dimension; quite possibly the thing that seemed different about the phpBB days compared to reddit/twitter/Facebook is that an independent forum felt like more its own culture than, say, a Facebook group or a subreddit. I have the vague impression that Discord servers are more “culture-like” than other modern options, but are considerably less durable and discoverable, which seems sad.