With apps like Mlem on iOS, we are getting very close to an Apollo+Reddit experience. How can Reddit successfully monetize what are basically just forums? What makes it special anymore ?

The community and how it interacts has always been the only thing that made it special. It's like a car. You'll remember the places you went and the people you went there with. But when the car hits 200k and becomes more expensive to fix than buy a new one, you send it to the scrap yard.

Lemmy is turning into a promising framework for community. But it's still the community that makes it worth being here.