Thats because America alone has something like 3.5 BILLION people in it. Ohio alone has 11 million citizens. I assure you 95% of ohio is farms and cows, and we STILL have 11 million. Sometimes I wonder if they include the cows in that number.

My point is, 50k in scale to how big the internet is (and thats just America.....the internet is the world. Except for north korea).

So, 50k is not really a lot. Especially when you consider that this userbase is fragmented by design.

I feel like this is the smarter design for this type of format. I also feel like this format could be so much more than it is. And it's because this format relies on the idea that you have to please everyone. Otherwise they'll defederate.

Well when I was 7 years old there was a girl at school who didn't like me. My great aunt edna asked what the other kids thought of me. They liked me ok. I had some friends. It was just her that actively disliked me. So my great aunt edna says some advice that has stood the test of time. She told me "In life, not everyone is going to like you. The only thing you can do is be yourself, make sure they don't dislike you because you're being a problem, and then surround yourself with people who DO like you. Let the others dislike you. As long as you're not being a problem child, you can only stay true to yourself, and likeminded friends will follow."

And even though she said this in the 80s, and has been dead for decades, her words speak true in my 40s today. Essentially the modern version would be "haters gonna hate".

So if there's 50k users, and they're segregating into their own spaces, it's going to feel more like 1000 users. And now take into account time zones, and individual schedules, it'll feel more like 200 users.