[CitrusFruits]

> Especially since these social shapes typically necessitate funding

I would actually argue, that with today's technologies and cloud offerings, this isn't necessarily true. The operating costs for a high availability sites aren't all that high. You can easily support a million users for under $1000 a month. The real cost to most other social networks is the need to generate infrastructure and growth engines around returning investment to venture capitalists and other stakeholders.

But regarding your other points, I definitely sympathize. I've actually tried to get my friends onto forums, and thoroughly enjoy Discord. Slow Social, however, is for a niche that I don't think those other options fully serve.