5 ways to find your fellow niche hobbyists on the Internet
From pigeon fanciers in Croatia to slime mold cults in Oregon, welcome to the weirdest corners of the web.
The Internet is a strange and beautiful place. You could use it to book a dentist appointment. Or to join an international community of competitive bean sorters. We’re not here to tell you how to live your life; we’re just here to keep your connection fast, reliable and ready when inspiration (or obsession) strikes.
Whether you’re hunting down fellow introverts who collect Victorian hair art or you just want a place to send someone your bad poetry, here’s your guide to some of the weirdest, most wonderful global hobby groups online.
Obscure Internet Subreddits
Reddit isn’t just cat pics and politics, it’s a goldmine of niche communities that are oddly wholesome (and often a little cursed).
r/VintageSewing: Because your great-great-aunt’s bustle patterns deserve a comeback.r/MaliciousCompliance: Passive-aggressive people, unite (politely and according to the rules).
r/BreadStapledToTrees: Self-explanatory. And yet... it really isn’t.
Hyper-specific Discord servers
Discord used to be just for gamers. Now it’s for everyone from cottagecore enthusiasts to people who argue about font kerning at 2 a.m. Here are some of my favorite ultra-niche servers.
GothStitch: An inclusive, goth-themed fiber arts Discord where stitchers of all styles gather for free patterns, monthly craft competitions, live “Crafter Covenstead” events, and a welcoming space to share art, music, and community without gatekeeping.
Book Lovers Club: A community of readers and authors, this server reads and discusses books together.
Modern snail mail collectives
Some folks are still trading zines, stickers, and cryptic postcards like it’s 1983. And honestly? I love it. Postcrossing is a platform that facilitates sending and receiving postcards from strangers around the world.
Forums that time forgot
You haven’t been chronically online until you’ve deep-dived a phpBB forum with 7 members and a 2005 color scheme.
Cloudy Nights: A forum for telescope nerds who casually debate the ethics of naming craters.
The Fedora Lounge: Old-school style fans discussing everything from 1930s neckties to bootleg jazz LPs.
Model Horse blab: Hobbyists who paint, pose, and competitively judge tiny plastic horses. These folks do not play around.
Alternate realities and Internet ARGs
For people who like their hobbies with a little mystery and a lot of cryptic spreadsheets.
Night Mind Index: A full archive of online horror ARGs and fiction universes. Think “Blair Witch,” but with YouTube channels and hidden Discord codes.
The SCP Foundation: A collaborative fiction project about “anomalous” objects. Come for the haunted vending machine. Stay for the bureaucratic horror.
Why I love these weird corners of the Internet
Because they show me the Internet IS alive.
It’s not just shopping carts and autoplay ads and your eighth failed attempt at streaming that one documentary. It’s about people finding each other, through a shared fascination with haunted vending machines or a deep respect for hand-stapled baked goods.
Whether you’re trading postcards with a 78-year-old mushroom hunter in Norway or arguing about sci-fi fonts in a forum that hasn’t changed since 2004—I'm here for it.
You bring the passion.
We’ll keep the connection strong.
