@CodexNotFound Not necessarily. Some servers use forks of Mastodon that are developed independently but which still create posts compatible with servers running Mastodon proper, and other similar projects. The server I’m on is an example of one running on Hometown, which is explained more here: https://github.com/hometown-fork/hometown

So basically, if the original creator of Mastodon ceases development, other developers can (and do!) maintain and update different platforms that “talk” to each other.

I’m unfortunately not adept at explaining it as it’s still something even I’m still kind of wrapping my head around. The non-jargony explanation is that even if the founders stop development, or even if mastodon.social stops being hosted, Mastodon itself keeps going. It’s a very cool platform for exactly that reason imo!