In most cases, I agree with this.

General topic channels don't work well in the new model. They were built an era of channels as hashtags.

There will be some exceptions, but will require a lot of work from the channel owner and moderators to make sure a large channel becomes and stays a community.

This model just requires scale; eventually, I do believe it will be viable here on FC.

Topically, it requires good ownership, attentive moderation, and abundant user-generated-content (i.e. the option for users to self-approve membership -> post).

experience-building @ MoonPay and investing in the future of the internet ˚₊ ˚ ‧₊ | purveyor of aesthetics @ /holowave

> Topically, it requires good ownership, attentive moderation, and abundant user-generated-content (i.e. the option for users to self-approve membership -> post).

What's the incentive to do the work?

Doesn't the onboarding process depend heavily on channels? Which users should the new comer follow based on their interest?

For owners and moderators:
Community building/maintenance is fun, profit through promotions/donation, a sense of purpose from building something bigger than yourself

For members:
Community badges in exchange for activity/actions, feedback/knowledge xfer, a sense of community 

Why did people build/maintain online forums back in the day? And why has that behavior tracked through to Reddit, Discord, and other platforms? 

In my mind when I ask myself these questions, the answers are similar for “Why would people want to put in the work for channels, however large or small?”

And I have asked myself this.

the same as an open source maintainer or subreddit mod, I imagine?