I think the many competing messengers are a good thing.

If they were backward-compatible (with their predecessors) and interoperable, I would agree. But they absolutely aren't. The lack of backward compatibility in the chat/messenger space is abhorrent.

It seems like everyone is trying to drag me to their favorite messenger

Yes, because people treat messenger choices as a popularity competition.

Look how many people I got to switch to crapware just because they wanted to chat with me! I must be super socially powerful! Woo hoo! Meanwhile, the technical consequences of this strategy are... predictable: crapware.

Opt out of all the noise and just stick to IRC.