I like it because there is a diversity of interests but a common core. There are enough new members and enough creativity to keep it peppy, but it's not like Reddit (very young, naive, posting redundant questions every day) or Nostr (so much meme noise that the signal is totally drowned out).

It's also pretty respectful in a way, like armed forces service members. They might knock on one branch or the other, but it's with respect. Here you get both sides of the political aisle (with a heavy dose of "both sides are crooks") but with enough respect and intelligence to see that all issues are more complicated than they seem at face value.

In short, there's a guy trying to make his local government better, talking to a dude eating out of a can in his bunker.

That said, we could use a little more feminine perspective around here. Not that it comes across as sexist; just "male-dominated".

I think ironically the only thing that would stop SN from "flourishing" is to try too hard to be something else, or to be too many things. There are several cool forums that predate all "social media" (or the internet proper, for that matter).