Feels like social media has too low of signal-to-noise ratio.<p>Where else should you look to have real conversations about topics you care about online?
Hacker news is pretty good. I wish it wasn't this way but it seems like a lot of communities are switching to slack and discord. Google for a topic you're interested in + discord or slack and there is a good chance you'll find a flourishing community anyone can join tucked away from the rest of the internet.<p>This is also a great trick for figuring out really obscure problems by the way. Error message returning no results when you Google it? Slack and discord aren't crawled by search engines (sadly). Join the relevant channel and search there. Very often you'll get the result you were looking for.
My best bet: Find a good Slack. If you don’t find one, start one yourself. (Matrix and IRC are also options.)<p>I also keep in touch with two buddies from junior high, we write nearly every day in a Messenger group.
I've seen a few substacks with high quality commentary. Look for a substack in your area of interest and start engaging with it by writing comments.