Instead of visiting the Mall of America and shopping at only what the mall will offer, using outdated infrastructure-- you can instead visit a variety of towns (“instances”) which each host their own cute boutiques (“communities”) specializing in a particular sort of item (whatever the topic of the community is). The instances can have their own rules that apply to its communities, but communities can also make their own rules, like a shop can. Skip the crowds and barely functional Supermall experience and find a better place to engage in discussion and get information.

They’ll come, I’m sure, but many craft and hobby-based subreddits, including r/wood, r/cardistry, r/MUD (or MUDs?). I’m looking to external sources for that type of learning new skills or topics.

I don’t really care for endless memes and shit posting, but deep content takes more time and effort, so patience seems necessary.

R/leaves has been a mixed bag-- lots of repetitive questions, but also some amazing and human stories.