I can say that discord has been invaluable to me lately, being able to pick people's brains in real time. Between that and these forums, it's almost like I know what I'm doing.
Also, Anna/Judy is a very scary bunny, and she gives out combat and outfitting advice freely. We have explorers, traders, bounty hunters, smugglers, etc. Around on there for talking shop.
Or just complaining about FDev, and what changes they should make.
Or off-topic chat in the social channel. Alt-tabbing over to discord helps keep me sane while scanning rocks on my way back to the bubble.
So it's totally optional, and compliments these forums (think of the forums as email and discord as instant messenger, in work terms), but another resource to try out.
The voice chat is pretty effortless, unlike the built in voice comms, as well, and we have a number of channels set up (and can create more). I highly recommend using the voice channels when winging up with people, or just to use like a CB radio.