I have definitely commented more in the fedverse in the last week than I have in the last year on Reddit.

Yea I get that. I had a 14 year old account. It really did change and was not the site I loved in the beginning. It was getting really toxic the last few years.

Same with me for reddit is fun. Been using the app for so long I just can't bring myself to remove it yet. I for sure will not be installing the official app.

I feel like there is more drive to interact because it's smaller, we want it to take off, and it feels like I am talking to real ppl and not a karma farming bot.

I've seen similar things. At my last company I helped start a team of 5 people to implement an identity solution, We got it done in about 3 months. Due to shitty management they pushed out the competent devs and back filled with cheaper replacements, either fresh from university or contractors. Fast forward a few years and the over team is now a group of teams with about +/- 40 people and it takes 4 months just to get a plan together which is then obsolete when they want to start due to more shitty management.

Thank god I am no longer there.