Perhaps if there had been less effort to mimic everything from past gossip networks, an emphasis on "some assembly required" and the promotion of various apps and sites as the new social network, people may have seen that this, like most successful decentralised peer-to-peer services, users are welcome at the lowest level while options for integration are provided for those who can't or don't want to.

Whatever people believe of nostr, it's what they were told, experience and history that will guide the narratives.