Communities aren’t an accidental collection of strangers with a common interest
Quoting: Communities aren't an accidental collection of strangers with a common interest - Duck Alignment Academy —
To bring it back to open source projects: if you’re moderately successful, you’ll have both a community and a collection of strangers. They both help your projects, whether it’s by feedback/bug reports, code contribution, telling others about your project, or whatever else. But it’s the community that will be sustainable. Not only does community imply some degree of commitment to stick around for a while, but the bonds of friendship can make the project a more enjoyable place to be.