Mariska Hargitay recently closed the forums on her website due to immature people with too much free time and nothing better to do polluting the forums with mean spirited and inappropriate posts. Life is too short to surround yourself with negativity, especially if you are paying all the costs of hosting and running the site.
Do you think that using the internet to talk to random people is a good thing?
I don't think there is anything wrong with meeting and talking to people online. One of the great things about the internet is that it allows people with common interests from all over the world to meet. Without websites and forums, I never would have had the opportunity to chat with other MSCL fans or find people who share some of my other interests. Even when it's something mainstream, it's cool to find a place where other people love something as much as you do so you can discuss it and get other people's points of views, which is something you can't necessarily do within your circle of real life friends if they don't love all the same stuff you do.
I have made some great friends online, people who I now talk to on a regular basis (some almost every day) and hang out with when we are in the same city. I have also encountered some really mean, petty, negative people who hide behind the anonymity that the internet provides. I have learned not to take it too personally by remembering that (1) there are people like that everywhere (including real life) and (2) it's impossible for everyone to like you. Some people click, other people immediately rub each other the wrong way. That's life, online or not, and every time you interact with someone, you give them the opportunity to like you or dislike you.
I'd rather be honest and find people who like me the way I am than be tentative and find people who might like the few things about me that I've put out there. People judge you based on lots of things: your job, your car, your clothes, etc. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but it happens in every situation whether you are online or at a grocery store.
A hard lesson I've learned about group dynamics is that there are always growing pains (whether the group grows larger or smaller) and it's often hard to adjust to the changes. Many forums I frequent (as well as real life organizations) have gone through that and it's difficult to watch a group that you love as it is become something else, but that's life - the only thing that's constant is change. I really sympathize about your forum closing. Once you find one where you are comfortable, it begins to feel like a family, and it's really awful when it disintegrates or disappears.