What has happened to us that 16M people is something we just laugh at as an inconsequential number, wtf.
I literally meant 16 total people. To be fair, that was a bit of hyperbole, but the point is that there probably aren't a lot of people looking to use an "open source ICQ alternative" in 2024.
That doesn't mean that somebody shouldn't still do it, but it would probably be a passion project, more than something that would make money. At least that's my guess. :-)
2. SNR on those 16M people is probably well above average in the vector of most interesting people on the planet.