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Back in my day, there were little places on the Internet that had a small number of frequent visitors. Those were forums, IRC, mailing lists, comment sections of various websites, newsgroups, and usenet. I never went on the latter two, but the in earlier years, communities really did form. With a niche topic or difficult enough setup, there are natural barriers that form, and very few people end up participating.
Even these days it's possible to form small communities. There is a small IRC network I know of that a lone dude operates, and there are about 15 people idling in the one channel, and maybe 5-10 regulars. I hang out there on occasion. It's a small Internet community in an old-fashioned sense.
Once a group or forum reaches a certain size, it's really hard to be a regular, since a certain percentage of members are always going to be new, or transient. Due to popularity all the members are effecitvely anonymous. They come and go like the wind.
It's hard to find a community on the Internet. I think you're better off finding a community IRL and pivoting that to the Internet, or focusing on a very small group of people you can actually meet with in person.