Hi Stuart, there is probably a a lot of substance to back your theory. People joined online groups and forums as a diversion during the pandemic for human interaction and to stop going nuts.I'm sure there will be many on this forum who could vouch for that. In my case I joined my old school discussion group, ultimately though it became clear that the guys who didn't like me 50 years ago couldn't bring themselves to have an adult discourse with me as to them, in their mind's eye, I was still that oily little snotbag they knew back then!!
Hi Stuart,
Not heard of the Vinyl community but judging from the numbers of 'uboxing' videos on Youtube every week there is still enthusiasm for sharing opinions and finds etc. Probably the pandemic caused collectors and music enthusiasts to intensify their participation on line for the sake of something to do if nothing else but once working conditions became less confined, the more prosaic demands on people's time kicked back in leaving less to leisure again. I also think it is a kind of mental health therapy to share your enthusiams at a time when it was very hard for a lot of people to cope with confinement so maybe it got over intesified for a while. Lastly, think of all that festival ticket money that didn't get used because they were all cancelled, I suspect much of it got spent on records / CDs instead!