As it has been pointed out numerous times on here, Mastodon is just part of the wider fediverse. I can join mastodon, join misskey or any or multiple of a number of services, I am still on the Fediverse and can still interact with people here on Mastodon.
"I do believe people will gravitate here if they see it's fun to do so and that they can have a place here. "
I agree with you here, lets give it time, fediverse and mastodon have been around for years, but started to gain traction only a few months ago. Lets work to make the whole fediverse more attractive. Perhaps other services will pick up different groups of users, it does not really matter.
I like the fact then when I join a fediverse service, I am not subjected to an inquition on age, location, marital status, gender, racial backgroud. I like the interaction with people based on topic, interest to subject area. I find this is our strength.
Are there accurate stats on the racial background of users, if we are not asked for that info, and there is no AI to profile users, then we can co-exist as users.
Perhaps Chris T @atomicpoet can comment further on this.