Ello is still going. It has a lot of artists and similar on it. Kind of a more upscale DeviantArt.

Ello is still operating, though its social aspect is fading.

The founders' initial plan was to create an artists' and designers' platform, and they've pivoted hard back in that direction over the past couple of years.

Thought their initial pitch was an ad free social network?

Not really. I'd have to dig for references (one of the site's failings is terminally flawed search), but it really was an artists' & designers' space.

That orientation allowed them to make additional pledges, including ad-free and no tracking, and yes, they did pledge that. But the SNpivot came after the initial interest boom in September, 2014.

From Crunchbase: "Ello was originally built as a private social network. Over time, so many people wanted to join Ello that we built a public version of Ello for everyone to use."

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/ello-inc#section-ove...

An early interview with Paul Budnitz (founder):

https://www.businessinsider.com/interview-with-ello-founder-...

I've cooled on the site myself, though think it might work, in its niche.

It was. Turns out that’s really hard to do.

Especially when you take a bunch of venture capital: https://ar.al/notes/ello-goodbye/

Note that that was written when they had taken $435,000 in VC, and now they're up to $11M: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/ello-inc

Not exactly an unbiased take from Aral considering he tried to launch a social network where "you were not the product" around the same time too.

I’m genuinely surprised they’ve lasted this long.

And ... it turns out there's just been a management coup.

Ello hasn't shut down?

They "rebranded". Artists & creatives only