There are private/paywalled Discord servers and forums out there, too, so this could replace some of those. I think the Reddit format is better than a lot of alternatives, so I don’t actually hate this idea.
I’m not really into the idea of moving everything to a baby Google, even if they’re currently good about privacy. They just added an AI tool to email and a crypto wallet, which could be either awful or great signs depending on your perspective.
Regarding ballot eligibility- I think part of timing for this is that the Dems are about to have their “roll call” in the next week or two to officially nominate a candidate to get on ballots before the official full convention.