I would really like to foster a sense of community in the communities I’m active in. Mostly I try doing this by encouraging others to post, reference to other users by name like “nice to see you back, user” or, “you should ask user, they know more about this kind of thing”.
Referring to others by name does make a community seem more like a connected whole. At least in my opinion.
It’s nice to be recognized as a person and not just another comment.