but all the comparisons between services are way off base.

My experience in Russia. No, they are not off base. Just naturally there are different PoVs and for you it may be something entirely else. You can think about that before saying something is wrong.

MySpace

Say, I'm not sure many people even knew of that where I am.

Forums were an evolution of BBSs that predated “social” media because it wasn’t you, it was an avatar, a fake persona you created rather than “first name,” “last name.”

People using real names in the Web were the weird ones, but it was normal to meet IRL those you know via forums.

I have no idea what point this rant is trying to make

Your failure, not mine.