lrc (last rechost) my relationship with cohost is still extremely tsundere because, to be honest, I think the staff's uncompromising attitude is incredibly naive. every time they make a financial report I think "Jesus are you trying to sink this ship on purpose. Why would you even publish this."
I'm being mean because I did come to like cohost a lot, even if initially I found its vision of social media alien and naive. I mean I still kinda think that but I also find value in some aspects of it now. I think cohost is a nice "third place", a supplement to hanging out with friends on discord and being a clown on twitter. I can post long form, low-quality write ups (like this one!) without any pressure. It's the only place on the internet where I'm comfortable posting my nudes for strangers to see! That's a big deal for the Cowardly Exhibitionist.
I think cohost being a third place is also it's weakness, though, along with its idealogical foundations being too rigid and out-of-step with the realities of running a social media platform. I think "third-place" isn't even an accurate term, because that implies that this is a place where you can interact with people you'd otherwise never see. And it's like. No, this website definitely has a specific audience. It's less of a third place and more of an upscale.. coffee shop? I don't know. It's very milquetoast, is what I'm saying, and it's definitely the top thing that alienates most of my friends from actually using this website.
And I think the measures this website takes to avoid making it as addicting or whatever to other social media platforms just makes it a pain in the ass for me to use. There's a reason I still use twitter despite it rotting every passing minute: it's way easier to interact with oomfs. I think the problems people have with social media are overblown (unless you have a sizeable following). If you're just a normal girlie like me and you know not to pick fights I'd argue the twitter experience is actually pleasant. I feel like I'm interacting with oomfs in a low-stakes way. Here it just feels like i'm talking to a wall and sometimes I hear the upstairs neighbors maybe responding to me? but nah you gotta play whack-a-mole first before you maybe get to see what a person said about your post. We're reinventing social media by removing the social part.
Anyway the rant's becoming incoherent and the analogies overwrought so I'll summarize by saying: I'm frustrated that cohost is dying but I also understand why it's dying. and I think the reasons it's dying are really stupid, and I've surprised myself by actually not wanting this place to die despite thinking it's stupid.