Here's the homepage of the platform, which strikes me as relatively "serious/big" for something run by a dev who didn't really know how to manage a database: https://joinfirefish.org/
I'm pretty sure there were "backers" trying to make it a thing and the "vibe" was very much "invite everyone, LFG!!". They even had a total rebrand (name and logo) in the middle of the "moment" with multiple posts hyping it up ahead of time.