@topher Good points. I like old things as well, I use IRC. But there's a place for good user interface, too. White space doesn't mean the space is wasted, on the contrary. I'm not going to lecture you about UIs more, just saying the minimal way of doing things is usually the less distracting.
In my opionion Mastodon doesn't need "selling points". I'm glad people can tinker their own solutions if they please. :thumbs_up_traditional: