I see your point but there have been community-run message boards funded by donations in the past. I doubt Lemmy will replicate Reddit’s scale.

Can you explain what the controversy is about? So the /r/Android mods tried to start an Android community on the fediverse but other people got to them first? How are they astroturfing?

They have every right to protect themselves against spam. But that said, ever since they defederated, their activity and user numbers are down.

Wow so much misinformed hostility against Beehaw here. The mod tools for Lemmy are currently limited and they just want to protect their community from trolls and spam. There’s no conspiracy here to break federation.