@inquiline Please accept my apologies. I did not consider that my doubt and opinion would be perceived as questioning your deeds or liberties. I did not think that bringing up another metric to the discussion and trying to contextualise it, would be seen as an act of hostility.
To everyone else that commented and gave labels here, I'm sorry and I withdraw with my own observations about the social dynamics exposed here.
@mapto Thanks, appreciate it. (This kind of misunderstanding can be modulated a lot by tone & framing that expresses intent. If you'd prefaced your remark with "Interesting paper. Do you think Mastodon itself is already becoming less relevant..." I think it's safe to say the reaction would have been pretty different, because it would have been perceived as conversational, not antagonistic)