So if you're reading this post, you're part of a select group of people: those who liked the appeal of cohost enough to join it and, most likely, stay beyond your first or second post. THIS IS NOT MOST PEOPLE. A fundamental assumption of many who are attracted to this site or even mastodon is the lack of an algorithmic feed is wanted by most people and is a reason to switch to another site.
Algorithmic feeds, in my opinion, are like junk food. Yes, people know its not good for them, on some level, and many may try to limit their exposure. Yes, after consuming a lot of it most people feel like shit and say, damn, this is rotting me from the inside out i should stop. but that's forgetting a major thing: these things are actively addictive! the point of both junk food and algorithms is to keep you going back for more over and over again, even after you swear them off. This isn't a new thing entirely from social media, either. This is fundamentally a similar calculus that local news did in, like, leading with murder coverage when you really wanted to watch for the weather. its the same appeal as shock radio: as stern, as limbaugh, as jerry springer and maury.
Just telling people "hey junk food is terrible for you stop eating it" DOES NOT WORK most of the time. They fucking know its bad. Nobody eats an entire box of cheez its in one sitting bc they don't think its bad. They do it because it tastes so good they cant stop despite the later consequences. Since instagram went algo-only a while back, it mostly GAINED users! This, from the same algorithm that pushes teenage girls towards eating disorders (for example).
Furthermore, the 90-9-1 rule fits in here, too. 9/10 of your users are not posting and are just there to scroll. the point of social media is not socialization, its that action of scrolling and feeling peripherally involved. its the same principle as tv, again: the old truism in programming is that people don't watch tv to watch anything in particular, they watch tv to watch tv. this is true even today, think of youtube's autoplay and how seldom people turn that off
Sites like this are only SORT of a replacement for that algorithm centered life, in the same way that, like, a takeaway salad is a replacement for a combo meal with fries and a soda. As the founders note repeatedly, this site is not for everyone. and i think that with that should come an acknowledgement that many people, even if in theory knowing the salad is the "better choice", will understandably bristle at you, all jamie oliver like, coming into their space and saying "hey try the salad instead of that juicy burger". Personally, i like it here a lot, and this kind of pace is good for me. but as someone who, well, keeps feeling the allure of actual irl junk food instead of healthier options like i know i should, i think we should have some sort of understandability of the limit of who, exactly, will want this right away