Ironically, I found myself at a very similar crossroads in 1997. I had bought my first rig a few years before, and there was literally nothing out there. I built a geocities page, (about the same time Ray Sala did) and then in 1999 was approached by an ambitious little startup called "4x4wire" to do a Mitsubishi Section. I was pretty excited as this developed into a legit source, and over the years we managed to snag some of the giants of the community. As things fizzled and supsequently transitioned to "social" media (a funny term for something that could be argued as anti-social) I found myself back in the same predicament. Where does one go to get tech? It was either adopt/adapt or find yourself back out in the cold.
I'm proud to be part of the MMUSA admin group, and I think we've grown beyond a social gathering but I've adjusted my thinking in terms of what we are. Yes, there is tech there. But it is not the "factory service manual of the internet" that we had going on the wire. It is more like the "offtopic" forum. Or the "break room" where people drop in, share, go back to work. We have the opportunity to embrace the newbies, and then if they stick around, school them with links to real tech.
I still think forums are the most effective way to serve our gear head needs and to be a permanent/searchable repository for tech articles. Ultimately, I think the new "FB-Groups" mentality can enhance forums, once we get more adept at marrying the two together.
After all, that's why we are here, at this ambitious little startup...