@kissane This is such an interesting write-up, and I really appreciate it. As someone with a lot of friends who came here and then left--it certainly echoes a lot of what I hear from them.
Much as I love Mastodon for my own experience, if I do give up on it, 50% will be “my friends were stressed out by being here", and 50% will be people in the fediverse smugly telling me that any of my friends who left are stupid, or bad, or both, for not appreciating the current version. I see that so often!