Little of column a, little of column b…combine that with peoples propensity for one-upsmanship and the convenient anonymity of the internet and you have a great recipe for people that are more than happy to gatekeep and talk shit as opposed to putting actual effort into more in-depth analysis and discussion.
Ultralight started as an exercise in minimalism but most online forums have devolved into gear fetishism instead. Done properly it is a thoughtful exercise designed to help you build and subsequently rely on your skills instead of having a different gadget for every scenario, but a lot of people online will just talk shit about your load out instead.
Like, excuuuuuuse me all to hell for not having $2k to drop on a bunch of cutting edge gear from Big Agnes.
I don’t know if that’s the best way to frame the argument. It’s not about keeping this place “small and unimportant”, it’s that by now we’ve all seen what happens when websites like this get big.
Reddit started out as “it will always be free, and we’ll never mess with your personal data or shove ads down your throat” too. That’s just not sustainable when you start dealing with tens of millions of users and billions of page views a day. Hosting the servers capable of supporting the traffic alone will cost tens of millions of dollars per year.
In other words, if Lemmy gets as big or as popular as Reddit, it will get just as shitty and corporate as Reddit. Guaranteed.