I find the discussion of MO and MSE interesting partly because personally even if the culture was good, they would activate my perfectionist tendencies without the reassurance of knowing who is on the other end. This is not a comment on whether the sites are good for other people

Maybe I'll be able to work myself up to using them at some point.

In fact seeing someone say they preferred using it over a cold email helped me crystalize why I was avoiding it. Because as much as I have to work myself up for an email, MO and MSE seem scarier.

I am not this nervous in person. And twitter has other fun things to offer, so I've had more of a reason to come here and get to know people here a little bit. And unless a post takes off, it's my followers list on the other end. I have some, albeit limited, control.

Hearing how useful the sites have been to other people I may eventually do the equivalent of jumping into the water that looks cold. But the fact that I mainly get reminded of them when people are having problems with them reduces the temptation to jump in.