>>106108284 (OP)I've been thinking a lot about this.
It's not dead. It's just largely been handed over to the normies and, by extension, the corporations.
What we need to do is change our view of the Internet.
Unplug from X, Tiktok, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, and other corporate bullshit social media. Those are normie containment sites now. The only social media you need is right here.
Meanwhile, it's easier than ever to set up a website. So that's what we need to do - create sites, find ways to get others to those sites.
The normies will stay in their containment zones, they have little curiosity about anything outside those spaces and can stay the fuck there. Those of us who were inclined towards the old web, however, will be more than happy to use the "new" web, since we're the ones looking for it.
And there are quite a few of us.
Just build something stupid and cool. That's what people did in the past. Don't worry about it being profitable. We didn't in the past either. If it's stupid and cool enough, it'll draw the right people.
But don't wait on others to build it because it ain't going to build itself.