Geek Groups

This week, I joined Tablet Weavers’ International Studies & Techniques (TWIST). Joining TWIST got me thinking about offline-first niche interest groups. I’m not quite how to name the phenomena that interests me here; let’s call them geek groups.

I’m a member of several such organizations:

Geek groups are united by a strong common theme. Everyone who is involved has some complicated and important thing in common. If you are in a geek group about, say Quakerism, you can always start a conversation: “How did you get involved in Quakerism? What’s your local Quaker scene like?” In a geek group, the unifying theme makes introductions easy. You have a natural place to start with anyone else in the group.