You are, of course, entitled to value whatever communities you wish for whatever properties you wish.

And, like you, I value online communities for the opportunity to encounter new minds.

That said, when a single parent needs a friend to look after their kid for an afternoon, or someone with a broken leg needs a friend to help them get groceries into their third-floor walkup, or someone delerious in an ICU needs a friend to sit with them for an evening, or someone who has just been dumped needs a friend to hold them for a few hours, or someone who just lost their home needs a spare bed to sleep on for a couple of weeks, or any of a million other similar situations arise, words on a screen aren't terribly helpful.

I value geographical communities for all of those services and more.

But sure, for a community where nobody needs those kinds of services, physical proximity may not be a big deal.