Start posting then buddy

Doesn't even need to be niche. There are no active major sports communities, much less local teams, which is about the only pleasure I get from browsing that place anymore through Redlib instances. Among others, BSky built cachet from sports journalists adopting the platform. Attracting a core of these otherwise apolitical mainstream interests may be necessary to kick start the network effect.

Aside, I would say it's ironically the more peculiar cultures I've hung around that never had Reddit or Discord supplant their surviving forums and chat servers that are doing the best these days in consistent quality engagement. While I think the post and threaded comment format inherited from Digg is adequate for news and current events, I hope slower-paced subs seeking to migrate seriously consider if they'd be better served by a different kind of service too.

God I hope the fediverse gets bigger than it is now

Haven't checked your post history so saying that generically, but hope must be accompanied by action. So to those that have the same feeling, I invite to look for ways they can help.