I was overjoyed to learn everyone at my new job uses Signal... Apparently we can even install the desktop app on our work laptops, but I won't go that far.
From what I recall, it was FB & Google federation of XMPP, and a huge number of various IM bridges that made XMPP usable at the time. I did have my own server, and all the nerd/geek friends I knew (so the vast majority of my friends) did the same. I even set up a servers at $job[-2] for intra-office communication, but still couldn't get decent buy-in.
These days, aside from a few die-hards, I don't personally know anyone using XMPP. I even ended up removing my server a while ago, because it had been years since I even launched a client to connect to it and not chat with anyone...
Being a total n00b, they seem about the same. The kbin instance I'm on seems a little more functional on the desktop, but I've had a better mobile experience with lemmy, solely because I've found actual mobile clients for it.
I seem to have been able to subscribe to kbin feeds on lemmy, if the URLs are any indication (and I honestly don't know enough to know).
Someone should file a bug report, some content accidentally got displayed instead of more ads...
Ideologically isolated seems to just be the name of the game, all things considered.
Well, if the slate is open, I've been involved passively with the cypherpunks movement for a long time. Like before they split the mailing list into federated parts in the late 90s. Not entirely sure I'd be qualified to do much...
Been on this train since... 1995? When I first discovered the cypherpunks mailing lists... I may have mail archives going back that far somewhere, but most likely 1997 is the earliest likely
Reinstalling the original CPU and see if the system comes to life would be a good troubleshooting step. I know IBM/Lenovo have played nasty whitelist games with peripherals in the past (including memory), so CPUs wouldn't surprise me either.
Takes too long for the UPS to run down...
I think 99% of my interactions with Reddit these days are pulling RSS feeds, most of which just get marked as read. I almost never load the actual site anymore.