I met and now have several photography friends since joining dpreview.
Here they try to prevent us from sharing contact information with each other, I presume so we won’t sell ’outside’ of their fee. I don’t mind the fee to sell, I pre-pay even though an item is more likely to sell elsewhere. It's not much to contribute for what I learn in the discussions and help I get from members here.
But I do resent having to sneak my info to members. 3 members have come here and we enjoyed listening to music together, share our equipment histories ... I’ll be visiting their homes soon.
Like minded friends is a tremendous gain from any forum.