It’s dead in principle because of how fractured it is.
Discussion
Though actually I understand how you and lunarised don’t get it because you run tiny instances which is a lot more like using nostr than fedi proper.
its not that tiny :'(
does the fedi have the same problems scaling with many instances like matrix does?
I'm the only user on my instance. I didn't want to deal with shitty admins and having entire instances blocked. So instead of crying about it, I solved it and control what I see. The only instances that have ever blocked me are full of trannies and mentally ill people, so I'm ok with them blocking me. Fedi has lots of issues sure but it isn't dead. Once more people start using Nostr all the idiots and weirdos will make it over and we'll see some of the same issues here as well.
currently that also seems an issue with nostr, hopefully it gets fixed