The specific distro doesn't really matter. What matters is package choice (being able to do the few things you listed with the apps you would like to use). I guess if you're among the Debian evangelists you probably value stability more than any other consideration. Just pick some server distro or Debian again.

Who in their right mind at Netflix thought that putting out games would be a viable source of revenue.

Of course you don't. I'm sure 95% of people don't. Most people don't bother taking a stand on things unless it affects something more substantial like their wallets.

Because f*ck Meta? Isn't that enough?

Droughts in the west are going to end up causing mass migrations once all the water is finally gone, and the extreme heat in the east makes me think if anything people are going to be leaving the USA, probably in our lifetimes.

The thing is if you're going to be sharing the road with other vehicles, you need to ride predictably and communicate with other drivers/riders or you're just more likely to get yourself killed. Deciding to ignore a Stop sign is not predictable behaviour.

There are other sources besides the big mainstream ones, such as The Walrus, The Tyee, The Conversation, Rabble, Canadian Dimension, and others I'm probably forgetting.

It says it uses ActivityPub, so yes, interoperable. Though Mastodon has its own quirks and doesn't line up neatly with the protocol.

My main problem with live chat is its ephemeral nature. So you can end up having people asking the same thing that someone else asked but the previous answer is buried/lost. Forums are good because you can index and search.

Honestly a forum is much better than the endless stream of live chat that is basically Discord and Matrix, et al.

IRC > XMPP > Matrix > Discord.

Matrix is heavy. I ran my own instance once and it is very resource intensive (even using Dendrite) even if you have only joined a handful of rooms. XMPP chat gives most of the same things I need for chat and is much lighter but no one uses it (sadly). IRC deserves a mention for something that is rock solid and simple and will still be around after Matrix and Discord (if they ever end), however people can't post their meme pics or their emojis so it doesn't appeal to younger people.

Concerning Discord. I literally only made an account because I had classmates that made a server.

Why would you join when you can just follow the accounts that interest you on it from Lemmy or Mastodon/Pleroma/Akkoma/etc ???