Salons in 18th and 19th century Europe generally revolved around one or a few wealthy patrons of the salon who not only funded its operations but also attracted the luminaries and intellectuals to its doors.
The analogue of patrons on the internet would be forum moderators, website owners, group creators, etc. But only to a certain extent because the owners and maintainers of an online forum are far less personally engaged with the conversation and daily goings on.
Of course the scale is much larger on the internet, and we don't actually deal with one another face to face. Banter is usually restricted as well and discussions are highly focused, in contrast to salons which were more of a social club.
I don't think online forums are the equivalent of saloons. I believe saloons were fairly scarce, thus if you got banned from one, you could not simply pop in another or make another account. The penalty for breaking the rules was fairly high and that made people leave some of their "crazy" at home.
A coffee shop is pretty much the modern version. In England coffee houses played the role in the Enlightenment. [1] Salons were more associated with France and were a bit different but related concept. [2]
Is a coffee shop really the modern version -- in context?
I think the whole relevance of the "coffee house" in the Enlightenment was that it was a space where different people were talking to each other and sharing ideas.
Does that happen in coffee shops anymore? Do strangers talk about more than pleasantries, if that?
> Does that happen in coffee shops anymore? Do strangers talk about more than pleasantries, if that?
Even in Vienna, which is somewhat of a self proclaimed coffee house capital of the world you can't really have any prolong conversations with strangers to exchange ideas. Beer houses of today are probably more suitable for discussions.
People do meet and have discussions in Starbucks. You're probably right though that it's not really the same thing--if only because there are so many ways to have discussions that don't require physically sitting at the same table.
I want to give a tongue-and-cheek answer and say "Discord and Slack," but more realistically I think you're right. Coffee shop, living room meet-up, face-to-face interactions among peers.
