@GlitchGhost @Oregon_Pacifist @rufustheduck My 2 cents. When I joined around 4 years ago, I didn’t think any other instance was exactly what I wanted, so I joined the main one and that is totally fine. I know the code is open source but they ARE the ones actually maintaining it. I don’t think any other instance is safer. I of course understand and appreciate federation. That’s exactly what makes Mastodon cool.
That said, this “shaming” on whomever is on .social is really pointless.