I should clarify: it's going to get busier here, and that small community feeling won't last. I didn't mean Mastodon was doomed, as some seem to think.
This really reminds me of App.net and the even earlier days of Twitter, Plurk, and god knows how many others. The ability to actually look at the entire global stream and still read it at a comfortable pace, just watching strangers think aloud or have conversations. I quite miss that open chatroom feeling in 2017; it won't last here.