I reckon this is key. So many people seem to take the view that since such-and-such site is very small compared to Facebook or Twitter or whatever, then it must be failing; As if maximising the number of users is the ultimate goal.

Maximising users might be the goal for investors, so that they can monetise and maximise profits. But for people actually using the service, it's totally beside the point. We don't need to be in conversation with 100,000,000 people at once. More people doesn't always make it better. In many cases it actually makes it worse.

[–] Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 1 week ago

Having the giant userbase does make it more likely there are enough people into whatever weird niche you are to have a reasonable community though. I mean, how else are you going to get a community going for, I don't know, hyper-realistic simulations of underwater basketweaving or w/e?