Hello everyone.
I've been here since 2021 (with two different usernames) and I've noticed something strange. Not just here, but in other places as well, like Matrix and Lemmy, though the Fediverse proper seems immune to it (for now).
In 2020 there was a massive explosion in spaces like this (and niche internet spaces in general, such as Geminispace, Spacehey, Matrix, Lemmy, etc etc) that seems to have massively died down by now.
Hell, even m15o, the founder and admin of the Pub, seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth.
Anyone else notice this?
Well, my take on this:
With the pandemic leaving the mind of the public and the "rat race" being back, it seems "everyone" (at least a big part of the "normal people") want to go back to the former normal. The niche spaces that have established itself in this time are a reminder of the sometimes traumatic experiences during this particular period, something people want to simply forget.
Yes, user numbers shot way past a baseline - due to various events - which I imagine is roughly what we see normalized today. I'm quite pessimistic about this sort of thing, but to me a lot of this always seemed very reactionary. A whole new set of demographics were disturbed, rightly so, by the centralization of social media and the power that a few could have to shape the experience (and therefore opinions) of the many. But this wasn't a principled stance, generally, simply distaste for whatever was going on with such and such platform. It's not sustainable. We have to value decentralization and democratization of communication on a cultural level. Even today I think users tend to re-enact the very same things they have fled from. But that's human nature.
Yes, 100%. Even discussion about the Fediverse seemed like people thought it was some new monolithic platform simply called "Mastodon."
Also, it was hilarious seeing all these spaces of Twitter refugees basically enforcing the same rules and centralization as Twitter had (through things like the Mastodon Server Covenant etc. which homogenized many instances.)