> I currently have a list of fourteen people waiting for a code.

That tends to happen when there's an exclusive club, people want to peak in. It is, in no way, an indication of the quality of the platform.

> the waves of repugnant users or miserably overbaked features.

That tends to happen when there's hardly any users at all. The "repugnant" or "normals" will flock in all the same, if the platform ever takes off.

> the utter lack of ads is delightful.

That tends to happen in all pre-revenue startups. Twitter was ads-free for years.