Chatting with another contributor [in a community]; seeing their activity as part of their profile; seeing their interactions with others as part of same; and being able to start threads of conversation with an author or contributor outside of comments on a document: all seem important parts of community-building.
What other frameworks strengthen communities, and help them persist over time? People can find one another here on the discourse; but this is not prominently linked from the pages of current communities. When a set of pubs quiets down, if editors and readers who found one another want to continue engaging one another, how can they stay in touch across communities? Is there a natural space for profiles, chats, and discussions about {writing, research, collaboration, technique} at a global level?