I also think that there should be multiple instances under the same umbrella. They don't all have to run the same software. So there could be a GNU social instance, a Friendica instance, and maybe a Mastodon, Pleroma, or Misskey instance combined with single-sign-on. The thing is that whatever software gets run, there should be someone who administers it and hopefully someone who contributes development time to the upstream project.

One of my frustrations has been that as GS development repeatedly stagnated, my job and home situations combined to keep me sidelined from becoming an active contributor.