There are of course still a lot to improve - like some aspects of the interface could be more 'stylish' (although in overall it's very good - it's clear, all the important stuff is clearly visible, there is almost nothing annoying, and there are some stylish features too, the pieces are good etc.). There are the occasional bugs, or not perfectly developed features, some shortcomings, some moderation aspects could be better, but in overall I think if lichess was landed on such a domain as
chess.com - then no other site would have a chance - I tried playing
chess.com but the interface honestly seemed awful to me, also I couldn't find an option to change/remove my avatar (probably because there was no such option), since I signed up with FB, and I did not like to play with my photo against everyone, it kind of restricts me in my play then, and I did not like to see everyone's photo too - for example when I'm playing against a forty year old and there is no prize money, I feel somewhat bad to outplay them given, that I am 28 but look like barely adult (there are good sides and bad sides to this) - I felt like some youngster who is better than those guys who probably play like for 30 years and there is no joy in that (I feel out of place simply). Also you could hardly find anything in that site.
I think
chess.com is popular purely due to lot's of money thrown into it, and the fact that there are a gazillion people who barely know how to operate a computer, and all they know that sites start with some name and .com and here you go super popularity.
My advice to lichess would be to sometimes in future when it would start to really close in on
chess.com to consider accepting donations not only to cover hosting costs, but also to hire some good moderation stuff etc. - also it would lower the chances that the site would ever get shut down (other-ways Thibault might lose interest in it somewhere in the future, there is no guarantee that he will play chess for all his life). It could be like
wikipedia.org then. I am fairly sure I would donate too.