My mother writes short stories and poetry. She isn't all that Internet savvy, but she had a knack for finding local groups of writers to chum with. She managed to get published a couple of times that way, so it seems to work.

The human-oriented group has also the side effect of making the writer a better orator, since they read passages to each other during their meets, and then talk about the works and presentation. I never went to her meets, but I know for sure it helped her diction and use of metaphor big time.