I can see how that might result from the general style of the answers people are getting when they ask how to start using this system. Things like “it’s like email” or “it doesn’t matter which one you sign up on as every instance can see the other instances they are federated with” can very well lead to the impression that a single user account works on all instances sharing the protocol.

I still think the reason for this is people are actually asking about the user experience rather than the way the protocol works. When they are answered with the above, instead of “go to the largest instance you can sign up at and start asking questions” and “if you go to a small instance it’ll be very quiet and you’ll get the feeling that all of this is really hopeless”.

First and foremost, and I know this freaks out the decentralization first users who value that above the lively environment, people should be directed to where everyone else is if we want any sort of widespread adoption. Even if people flock to one instance, the decentralized nature of the protocol will still act as a safeguard against monopolization because once people learn the ropes, it’s trivial to migrate to another instance which doesn’t have whatever that is you don’t like about your first instance.