> But in the last 4 years, I've heard the local community scream at their children, heard the local alcoholics shouting abuse at people walking past, seen the local shop attacked by a gang of kids 3 times, seen countless fireworks let off in the square and also aimed at people, seen the rubbish left behind after the community has used the square and park, and been kept up more nights than I can count by the noise.
And for every one of those, there are likely dozens or even hundreds of people not doing those things and instead living quiet, productive lives. Those are the people you're prematurely writing off, and those are the people who would be of value to you.
> We got a plumber recommended by and from the community to replace a shower. That kind of thing?
No, because that would just be a different stranger. If you don't actually know anyone in your community, how do you even know your community recommended that plumber? In all likelihood there are countless other people in your 5 mile radius with the exact same experience who could've warned you about that plumber and recommended a different one (perhaps even the very one you ended up hiring later) - but instead, you wrote them off, and in doing so made a rather expensive decision.
In attempting to refute my point you've proven it :)
> What all these suggestions seem to be missing is that some people (and I don't think it's a tiny percentage, either) do not have the burning desire to mingle with people at fire pits, roof beers, park beers, etc.
None of these suggestions are predicated on a "burning desire", no more than a burning desire to perform some other chore like participation in electoral processes or working for a paycheck. I don't like mingling with people, either - I, too, would rather stay at home all day chatting with Internet people if I could get away with it - but the point is that we can't get away with it, because whether we like it or not we live in a society and it's therefore in our best interests to participate in it.