@mckra1g I'm sorry to hear this.
Please understand that building an audience on the Fediverse is just like any other social network; some people will love you, some people will hate you, and most will ignore you.
But nobody speaks for the whole Fediverse. There are millions of people here on dozens of platforms. If someone tries to impose some implied rules on you that don't reflect your server's requirements, ignore or block.
Thanks for sharing your experience. It was worth a follow!