For example, I tried to recreate the Powerlifting community here and it’s completely dead lol. It’s just me posting a couple times per week hoping someone else joins me. There are around 50 subscribers but they only upvote my posts.

They’re pretty much polar opposite ideologies.

Yes. I think it’s because I’m a monthly supporter though. It seems to have a big psychological effect in that I want my money’s worth, and I want Lemmy to succeed. So I comment and post quite a bit to help keep communities active.