So I've spent the last few weeks going down a rabbit hole trying to research this properly. Figured I'd share what I've learned and see what you all think.
I've been through several different platforms trying to find something that has a real active community rather than just bots or totally dead rooms. It's harder than it sounds. The landscape has shifted a lot and things that were active a couple years ago are now ghost towns.
The signal-to-noise ratio varies a lot between platforms. Some have really active moderation and others basically let anything go.
Would love to hear from people who have actually used these services and can give honest feedback rather than just generic opinions.