@evan I'd like to slightly disagree for multiple reasons.
- New servers will be empty: no local and federated content, only follows. Even non-followed responses will be missing.
- A closed server for one or few people is a waste of resources.
- Running an open server definitely requires dedication and care, especially ensuring that it will run for extended periods of time, since it's not nice when your users observe that the server is no more.
I would advise people to pick smaller but stable (running for months or years) instances rather than starting their own. They can still migrate to their own later if the need arise.