If by worked you mean "worked so well they replaced all the big actors" then sure, nothing has worked. But plenty has worked on a smaller scale. Raph Levien's

If by worked you mean "worked so well they replaced all the big actors" then sure, nothing has worked. But plenty has worked on a smaller scale. Raph Levien's Advogato worked fine. There's also a reason most new social networks start up as invite only - it works great for cutting down on spam accounts. But once they pivot to prioritizing growth at all costs, it goes out the window.