Most other people don't seem to be able to get friend groups to shift, if the original venue is still functioning. Cue "I don't like it but I guess things happen that way."
I haven't tried to bring anybody. Long time ago I developed the defensive habit of altogether abandoning my old handle when I sought out a new activity. This is because I first got online in the Wild West Internet days, and it didn't take me long to realize that a) good people I never would have met, and bad people who never could have noticed me, were now both in range, and b) there was no practical defense against an obsessive evilminded lunatic from out-of-district; pre-Internet law enforcement wasn't set up to cope. Pseudonyms that only last for a time could make me hard to follow around. Just in case.
(Now we have got an establishment that has decided that what's important is not protecting the serfs but suppressing them. Worst of both worlds, in certain ways.)
Maybe nostr'll serve. I've considered dropping offline altogether except for practical stuff, too. That seems a little drastic. But it's now on the table.