I really believe in open source in community-owned projects. The federated model fits right in with those values, and I believe it offers brightest possible future for social media.

I signed up during the blackouts, but before the mod removals. I honestly didn’t (and don’t) hate them for the API decision, but I was super excited for the influx of new users that would make Lemmy more viable. Then the mod drama started, and it’s illustrates so well the advantage of the fediverse.