It’s really growing on me. I love the idea of being able to browse and participate in communities outside of my “home instance”. Where to actually set up as a “home instance” was a bit confusing, but once I picked one I kinda just forget about it.

I don’t think the subs should go private, but rather they should just get straight-up abandoned. The admins will have a much harder time dealing with all the unmoderated content that will inevitably show up, and it will look way worse to advertisers.