linuxmemes

Users switched to Facebook instead

It's more like: those who couldn't be bothered to make and maintain their own site, went to normie platforms.

You still have stuff like http://geekring.net/

Yeah it pisses me off the way people are like “tech bros ruined the internet”. No, users ruined it! There was no reason to stop self-hosting webpages, forums and IRC servers. Users switched to Facebook instead because they preferred it and didn’t care about the downsides. There’s an alternative to every website and app which respects privacy, serves no ads, and has no algorithm to farm your outrage. Users refuse to use them because they aren’t cool enough.

You got a point there, though I think it's users and corporations who both ruined it. And why ? Because users were not well informed and did choose for easy solutions without caring about privacy. At the last Tw(X)tter Exodus to Mastodon you could see several vocal new Mastodon users complain about not having a quote option. And probably several of them stopped using Mastodon for that. People have strong opinions and when they can choose to communicate with most of them friends with things like Facebook they go for that rather than having to spend time on exploring more privacy friendly options. And why ? Because there is so little time and because technology is scary for a lot of "normies". I believe that is the success of Apple : shiny looking white design and easy of use. No plug & pray but easy peasy communication. Never mind the high prizes and walled pay garden. Ease of use and design is top priority for some. Does it makes sense to re-educate people and inform them ? I believe yes, but only if they are interested and have some spare time.