It’s still out there. A fully functioning internet.

It’s still out there. A fully functioning internet.

Taking up an old-fashioned hobby “helped restore my faith in the possibilities and the basic humanity of the internet,” writes @FManjoo. Being a hobbyist “helped me find a saner, friendlier corner of the internet,” a place of “collaboration, persistence and shared ingenuity…a way to supercharge my training.”

This served as “a reminder that the internet’s most effective trick is connecting disparate individuals into a coherent whole.” Serving as a space where “the online social structure around any hobby” forms and “the collective builds on itself.”

Newcomers “pick up the basics — but by creating new markets for content and equipment, and connecting every hobbyist who has discovered something new to an audience eager to learn every trick, it heightens the experience for people at every level.”

Because their topic fails to attract trolls and bots who intentionally flood the zone with chaos, the internet’s creative mechanism still works within the hobby’s confines.

Within that zone, the internet “opens up a whole new world.”