I'll answer this for ya, and they can add to it if they like.

Yep, we knew each other before we met Alex, and we knew each other even before #xf-r. We all met through the XF though. It was through a XF club at that university that we met (Only one of it's kind at a university or college in Canada at the time and was used to help promote the university life at UWO heh). On the day that Dean was doing a stand up routine, we were meeting to go to it (technically it was for frosh, but we went in anyway. I wasn't first year, while Fee and Jen were not even attending the school heh). The three of us met some others through the club, which then lead to #xfrp and then #xf-r for me. They got into #xf-r in other ways.

As for in person, I think I've only met three others through #xf-r. All three were very different types of meetings in real life, but I'm only in contact with one of them still (Paula aka Scully). One dissapeared (Kim, aka Rose I think it was) and the other (Jaime) is a long complicated story that doesn't end well.

I hope I haven't forgotten anyone or missed anything, I do have a terrible memory afterall ;