@LoudLemur

I agree with @humptydumpty but I think there's another layer of complexity here. Despite loving FOSS, FOSS isn't free to the person who hosts it.

I can spin up a Discord server for free. However, if I spin up Element under my control, I need at least a server and a domain name. Those aren't free, and my real-life billing info is part of that transaction. Free software is great unless you're the admin. In which case, there's almost always non-trivial infra costs that must be borne.

I know lots of folks who could use, e.g., Element, but the content of their communities has some risk (usually copyright infringement) that they don't want directly traceable to themselves.

I'm also one of "those guys" who runs several small businesses. I don't have time to be checking 84,328 different places for inbound comms. For better or for worse, I pay ProtonMail to host the MX for most of my domains, and I rely on email primarily -- everything dumps into one app and inbox, and I sort it with labels and filters. Secondarily, iMessage, for those few people to whom I give my cell number. Thirdly, Discord. Beyond that, I don't have the bandwidth to be checking bespoke comms hubs for all the communities/initiatives with which I'm involved.

Put differently -- the FOSS problem is one of network effects. I can learn and use one app for many servers on Discord, but given the fragmentation of the FOSS ecosystem, I'd need to use several apps to track those same communities in the alternative. And I just don't have time for that, just as I don't have time to be tech support for users who don't know how Teh Intertubes work.

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