Why is everyone so upset?
You know why, it's because in the eyes of Lemmy users who have been here all along, launch of Sync is the start of their eternal September. I moved to reddit back in 2010 as a Digg refugee after the infamous redesign, I saw much of the same back then (down to the plethora of programming and Linux memes).
I guess the point is you're middle aged in regards to your contribution to society. First 15-20 years of your life you pretty much just "take", while the following 50ish you are expected to chip in. In those terms, 50 sounds about right as being referred to as "middle aged".