The fediverse used to be a lot more open before mastodon. We didn't have cancel culture or crusades against instances, admins would decide to block instances because of content being illegal in their country. That was the most controversy we had, that and people who would shitpost or cause drama. But you are going to get those people.

We didn't have private accounts, content warnings, post scopes. It was really the minimum that you needed to post. DMs were kept to the same instance, all the posts were public. The software itself was a lot more open, it welcomed new users and conversations. I even liked that it includes replies on the main timelines without needing to be tagged into it... I find lots of interesting conversations this way. The search function was decent and we had groups so we could find each other through interests.

It was a lot smaller too. You could take your time to get to know people and follow conversations. It was friendly, people would answer your questions about the fediverse and its software. You could find the information that you wanted. People would talk about that. There is just that atmosphere which is easily lost in a massive crowd. We created our own memes over time, in-jokes that we shared around.

I rember.