In other words, you can track the normies all you want as long as your app doesn't do something "creepy" that reveals how much it really does know about them
It strikes me that, as you say, even "normies" don't like tracking.
I think the problem is when sleek services obfuscate how they work and users don't understand what happens.
The average "normie" doesn't realise that, by default, a cloud service provider sees all their data in the clear. They assume it's somehow private, but haven't seen behind the veil to understand how services work. And the increasing complexity of the tech stack means understanding it becomes harder and harder every day that goes by.
They're stuck in the mid 2000s, in all the best ways.
Technologically they're ancient (usually HTML tables), the amount of users grow slowly (if at all) and are limited to maximum a few thousand (usually just a few hundred actively using the forums though). Users won't risk their treasured accounts by acting badly, and since very few join private trackers for the forums you get a wide specter of different people participating, in their different ways.
Some users are silly and post memes, others post long and thought through replies, often in the same thread. Everything is discussed, from politics to the latest movie. There's no "karma" to earn.
After a while you start recognizing the same people. I'm really glad I still have access to it, otherwise I would feel kinda lost in today's internet, where you need to find a new site/subreddit for every topic. No tracking either for that matter.