I subscribed so that they’ll show up in my instance.

I wish you well. Personally, I’m a bit gloomy about the prospect of growing communities.

To share some data from shittymoviedetails@lemmy.world:

2023-07-19 521 subs 05 posts
2023-07-20 533 subs 13 posts
2023-07-21 633 subs 18 posts
2023-07-22 677 subs 19 posts
2023-07-23 710 subs 20 posts
2023-07-24 740 subs 21 posts
2023-07-25 753 subs 22 posts
2023-07-26 760 subs 23 posts
2023-07-27 781 subs 24 posts
2023-07-28 785 subs 24 posts
2023-07-29 794 subs 24 posts
2023-07-30 794 subs 24 posts
2023-07-31 798 subs 24 posts
2023-08-01 802 subs 24 posts
2023-08-02 807 subs 24 posts
2023-08-03 807 subs 24 posts
2023-08-04 826 subs 24 posts
2023-08-05 846 subs 24 posts

I was involved in an attempt to grow this community. Two or three of us posted on the 20th July and 21st July, and you can see the subs jump from 533 to 677.
I kept posting 1 post a day until the 27th, but found that, the more I posted what I thought was amusing the more you actually had to be me to agree. If anyone ever commented on a post they didn’t get or thought unfunny, there’s maybe something I could do about it.
From then, subs have grown (I assume the recent jumps are due to Sync users), but posts and comments have not.

So it’s not just about getting more subscribers - it has to be the right kind of subscribers.
Lemmy Kings sitting on porcelein thrones, dis-interestedly calling out for “More content! No! Not that kind! Get me some more Content Creators from the village!” are of no value.
If you’re increasing subscribers, but it’s still just you posting into the void, it’s hard not to get disillusioned.

I found three of your subs, not realizing one person started them all, thank you! I was especially missing awwnverts, and then was happy to subscribe to comic strips and hadn’t ever thought about weird wheels but was intrigued enough to join : )