Excellent point!
Perhaps, then, I'll reframe this: I hope for greater attention and transparency to aid in navigating available servers by business model. An opt-in directory which may actually help people find independent private servers if that's what they're looking for.
One example I quite liked was the instance run by archive.org. It is strictly for their own employees and not available to the public. If I worked for them, I don't know that I'd opt in -- but I appreciate that it's offered!
Absolutely. We've already set outselves up for eventual failure.
I was speaking to a friend registered with the tech.lgbt mastodon instance, and all I could think was "that sure makes that population vulnerable". There's so many instances that were paid as a one year server subscription by a hobbiest who might lose interest, and poof - those instances will be gone without warning.
Search will get better across instances over time. Instead of thematic instances, I'd really like to see focus on instance governance:
Which are run by corporations, non-profits, academic institutions, or cooperatives who have an accountable board incentivized to maintain their instance?
What are their sunsetting plans? Do they have policies in place to warn users if they become unsustainable?
What are their funding models, and how well equipped are their technical staff?
As a librarian, this question tickles me.
I heard this episode of 99pi last week. The more I think about it, the more I like nails.
Good question. None that I think would be fun for the general public...
... although...
Perhaps you might enjoy the 1976 Canadian novel "Bear", which features an Archivist as the protagonist. It won the Governor General's Literary Award when it came out.
https://openlibrary.org/books/OL4885078M/Bear