Practically, this take emphasizes my point on repeaters. Each open active repeater develops its own subculture. (That said, the overwhelming majority of repeaters in the US are idle.)

You may not be welcome on any given repeater.

The only hams I ever enjoyed talking to were SOTA chasers when I was the activator. Bit of an all day job, and therefore something I don't really have time to do.

"Ham radio is like Chatroulette in that you don't know which old man at the other end of the ionosphere you're going to end up talking with."