I used to spend a significant amount of time on some forums that shut down many years ago. While some of it was technical help, there was also a social aspect to the forum I was on and I spoke with many of those people daily through the forum for over a decade. When it shut down, it left a hole that I've struggled to fill.

Losing a hobby isn't easy. If it was also their way to have a kind of pseudo-social connection, that also isn't easy to lose.