I still use t. off the site, but I also know it's most famous on English speaking sites due to being popularized on 4chan.

Even if I think a lot of R8 things the mods to after are totally harmless, I feel like the real benefit of R8 is that it identifies users who are not willing to change how they type, and are thus not particularly willing to assimilate. Good users are better than more users every time (what do you even think the Eternal September was about, what do you think 4chan complaining about "summerfags" was about, etc; just a massive influx of people who weren't going to assimilate into the site culture).