The objective is to indeed make [email protected] grow.

Sure, but couldn’t people be directed there just as well with a pinned message, and maybe a sidebar comment?

My concern is that locking this community would be a bit like tearing up the road behind us when heading off to an uncertain destination.

There are only so many people interested in the topic on Lemmy, and .ml is already the most active community by far.

And? If you think reducing lemmy.ml’s influence requires that a single competing community absorb the others, then I think you are mistaken. If you think that we must choose a single community for each topic that interests us, then I know you are mistaken.