Absolutely! I've definitely run into people who seem interesting based on profile or a single post... but turns out I do not vibe well with them in a broader sense. That sort of chill space seems to be more analogous to how most people make friends irl, at least to me.
Like... you may have come to this club because you're interested in the theme, so you know you have something in common with the other people who showed up... but hanging out on the patio to just chat for a bit lets you find people you connect with better.

Anything that can act as a good social outlet is a good thing right now. I think one of our local DJs has been doing twitch streams on some of her usual club nights so that people can still at least partially participate from home.

Same here. I never actually joined the local NaNo group, but... my previous experiences haven't been great. Definite bad vibes, or just wildly steamrolled by one or two people, or not-so-subtle hate for fanworks or genre fiction or queer fic...
(This was way back in high school, but my "favorite" piece of "constructive criticism" that I ever got from a writing group was on a silly little rom-com short story about a teen trying to get his oblivious friend to realize he was asking him out. I'm sure it was not a great story, but the "concrit" I got on it was that I should stop copying Brokeback Mountain and come up with my own ideas. :| )