The point is that “it’s open source” is a really bad selling point when you’re talking about a messaging tool meant to be used by everyone.

Good luck trying to convince the general population that “the UX is bad but theoretically anyone can improve it” is better than what you get out of the box with other messengers.

You don't need to convince "the general population" to switch. You don't even need to convince anyone to "switch".

Just do the change yourself. Help those people close to you to install Element alongside whatever they are using now. Even if just because they are using to talk with you, it's better than nothing.

You don't get to migrate things that are on huge network effects in one go. But we can help the growth of one network organically until it reaches critical mass.

But other people don't install element alongside whatever (except maybe your parents), but they continue using what works for them... Are you really so "special", you can convince all of your friends with "I know all your friends are using app X, but if you want to chat with me, you need app Y, which noone else is using right now, but maybe, some day..."?

Not all, but the ones that mattered and bothered, yes.

I am not asking them to delete the other app, I am not asking them to join a religion. I am just asking them (and helping if necessary) to install an app and set up an account on my server.

Indeed. That is why I started using “one could” instead of “you can”. This prevented a lot of misunderstanding.

How can you possibly expect ONE person to do all of this? /s

I have been discouraged to use that form because native English speakers have corrected me that unless I am a British monarch, it would be incorrect language use.

Maybe I'm missing a joke, but this is not the case unless you're using "one" as a way of referring to yourself. Saying "one could" to mean "someone could" is perfectly standard English.

One does have to be a little careful with that... It's generally old-fashioned, and can end up sounding sarcastic or passive-aggressive if the statement is obviously meant to refer to a particular person. (Cf. the upper-Midwestern "a guy could" or "a lotta guys", as in "A lotta guys would have made sure that was tied to the roof of the car before they drove off.")

If one were to use it to refer to oneself, then one might be royalty. Otherwise, one may do as one likes!

It must be exhausting never to take a break from befuddlement, you really ought to consider only feeling this way some of the time, or at least spend some time befuddled by other things.