Wow, this is so well done. I really appreciate the attention to detail and how you went the extra mile to really make it look good.

I think you’re spot on. I use Instagram for one niche sport I do, hydrofoil surfing. Everyone who foils is on there, and as a result the development speed of this 5-year-old sport is incredible. Someone in Australia invents a new maneuver, posts a video of it, and a few hours later while they’re sleeping people in America are trying it out.

None of that is happening on pixelfed. I tried it out too, and, meh. There’s just nothing interesting on there, and it’s too complicated to explain to non techies. So there’s a huge barrier to entry and no compelling reason to surmount it. Heck, I have an advanced degree in informatics and I barely made it over the choose an instance wall. My perma-stoned surfing buddies don’t stand a chance.

That’s funny, I’ve made a few of these and always thought to myself, “I can knock this out with a hand plane way faster than I could set up my table saw.” A few swipes with a no5 and a couple swipes with a smoother and I’m done. I guess it all depends on how familiar you are with which tools (and of course, whether you’re making a couple vs a whole bunch)