What makes you think it is dead when there are active users every day, development is active, and there's a developer conference this week (https://p2p-basel.org/)?
That's a very limiting definition of 'death' and it may as well have applied for "Linux Desktop", yet Linux as a Desktop choice is increasingly popular, just not at a growth rate that would satisfy Silicon Valley: https://www.justingarrison.com/blog/year-of-linux-desktop/
As for 1: you don't have metrics for that. As for 2: you don't have metrics for that.
I wish you all the success with your grants and crowdfunding. We disagree with the feasibility of ssb as a platform, but either one of us trying to sway each other from their position may prove to be a foolish errand. Fair winds.
1. it hasn’t grown past the early adopter phase 2. There is no product-market fit.
The evidence I have is the litany of dead accounts that follow my account. Luckily, via mastodon I’ve been able to reconnect with those people.
As someone else has mentioned mastodon is doing quite well. And from experience Web 1.0 blogging is a breath of fresh air.
The Nile is not just a river in Egypt.