YC physically creates that sort of group of peers. For those of us that choose not to make it out, YC News is fostering something similar on the web. It's not a replacement, but it's a good conversation starter. We might even see some startups from founders meeting online through YC News. Have there been any examples of this so far?

Speaking of which: extantproject at gmail dot com if anyone out there would like to throw some ideas around.