adding to this - be leary of fiefdoms and gatekeepers.
anybody that's been on fedi for longer than 2 minutes should already be familiar with *discourse* and *meta* but one more time:
be cautious around people who claim much influence and knowledge. the urge to build a tiny influence kingdom is great for a lot of people and many fall into it.
watch people for a long time before making a decision. how do they handle different situations? more importantly, how do they hand being challenged?