If Reddit think small.communities are worthless then they really dont understand social media. Lots of users belong to big and small communities. I left Reddit because the small communities I engaged with are gone.
I'm not drawn back by the big generic communities - they've lost me from both. Multiple that up everytime a small community has fallen apart with a proportion of its users are gone for good, and you have a real problem.
It's all part of the same enshittification. Reddit is dying through death by a thousand cuts.