What communities, online or offline, have made you feel most like you've entered/found a parallel dimension in a positive way?
Excluding, say, here or the fediverse more broadly.
There have been some nice corners of the internet that have somehow kept going along their way that I've enjoyed lurking around like some alien observer. They are the few spaces I dare not pop in and ask, out of fear it would somehow break things.
Both of mine are offline and involve something in an everyday space that others wouldn't understand the significance of or possibly notice at all
First, the Hash House Harriers, the self-proclaimed "drinking club with a running problem". It's fun seeing chalk marks on pavement and knowing that a hash had recently passed by, even if it's been some time since I've been.
Second, geocaching. Tons and tons of containers hidden around you that you might never see if not actively looking for it. It's always a blast running into another person suspiciously looking about under a bench or whatever.