When I heard the term "trap", I immediately thought of XKCD's Nerd Sniping[1]
These are more like a beacon or a "dog whistle" (though that word has taken on a new meaning).
Attracting like minded people is best done by ignoring your self critic and putting your self out there - a curated interesting personality is not something you can produce by trying hard.
[1] - https://xkcd.com/356/
[2] - https://xkcd.com/214/
I love this description of the search to find one’s people.
But to keep it 100 with you all, nobody has touched my doorknob in a while. How might I improve the odds of finding my people?
"Curiosity Traps" are the benevolent cousin to "Nerd Sniping Traps": https://xkcd.com/356/
My brain also immediately went there when he was talking about the T-shirts :)
And, it's on us to engage with the curiosity doorknob that others have laid out!
The first time I emailed someone on the internet about something they made that I liked, I was rather hesitant about bothering them.
The first time someone emailed me for the same reason, it made my day!
I'll often reach out to bloggers / open source devs via their email if I have feedback, a question or just otherwise want to compliment them on their work.
If you feel like you have something worth saying, even if just a compliment, it's often worth the email.
(I will say please don't ask to set up vague meetings, or create stupid github issues, however haha)