I'm drafting a post for Discussion about how users on LessWrong who feel disconnected from the rationalist community can get involved and make friends and stuff.

What I've got so far: *Where everybody went away from LessWrong, and why *How you can keep up with great content/news/developments in rationality on sites other than LessWrong *Get involved by going to meetups, and using the LW Study Hall

What I'm looking for:

1. A post I can link to about why the LW Study Hall is great.

2. Testimonials about how attending a meetup transformed social or intellectual life for you. I know this is the case in the Bay Area, and I know life became much richer for some friends e.g., I have in Vancouver or Seattle.

3. A repository of ideas for meetups, and other socializing, if somebody planning or starting a meetup can't think of anything to do.

4. How to become friends and integrate socially with other rationalists/LWers. A rationalist from Toronto visited Vancouver, noticed we were all friends, and was asking us how we became all friends, rather than a circle of individuals who share intellectual interests, but not much else. The only suggestions we could think of were:

Be friends with a couple people from the meetup for years before, and hang out with everyone else for 2 years until it stops being awkward.

and

If you can get a 'rationalist' house with roommates from your LW meetup, you can force yourselves to rapidly become friends.

These are bad or impractical suggestions. If you have better ones to share, that'd be fantastic.

Please add suggestions for the numbered list. If relevant resources don't exist, notify me, and I/we/somebody can make them. If you think I'm missing something else, please let me know.