(possibly) unpopular opinion:

Its been a pursuit of mine to be super early on platforms, protocols, operating systems, since around 2003.

Over that time, ive seen similar phenomena repeat in different ways, and I've come to the conclusion that focusing primarily on adoption is a sign of doom for a platform or protocol. Also, having a core culture which focuses everything on mass adoption/popularity is a redflag warning to not build a presence that you rely on, on that platform or protocol.

I dont mean new user experience should be ignored. I mean, when you see an abnormal focus on "getting new users", be wary. Priorities are being set by inexperienced, immature, and possibly (probably) greedy individuals.

Protocols/platforms/OSes that focus primarily on improving the protocol itself, making it faster, smaller, more stable, easier to develop on, and even try new things which occasionally break things, seem to stick around, and grow an incredibly loyal base.