Oh, the service itself is decent, up to great depending on your criteria. Pretty much never down, works well enough, etc.

It's the privacy and bullshit behind the service that's hated. Well, usually, some people hate the layout, and others hate the fact that it's the default for so many people that it's difficult to avoid.

In addition to other comments, it's a terrible replacement for forums. Information gets buried quickly, is hard to sort and search through, and conversations get scrambled.

it's a venture capital-backed startup that has been very eager to exit its growth phase and enter its aggressive monetization phase so it can start making its shareholders some money. They've already tried a few things that didn't work, like trying to turn it into a Steam competitor.

The service to date is mostly fine. If you're like most people who don't mind exchanging some privacy and control for access to an app that has a nonzero professional UX design budget, it's pretty fantastic. But the writing has been on the wall for a long time that enshittification is near on the horizon. It's not a question of if, but how soon.

It's the privacy

Matrix or mumble