Hard disagree. I want to interact with the grandma's and family that aren't tech savvy. The Fediverse promise is one where the user has the power. I don't see how Meta will change that. All I see is that the Oklahoma asshole who wants to debate will get ads and I won't. Commerical sponsors of the Fediverse is validation of the idea, so let it happen. Yes, Meta will see my username and will try to make ads happen, but thats not what Meta needs or wants: they need high quality content and will accept that some of it they can't monetize. But if they can monetize those users in their corner, then they see value.
This is the way. For best results, search public records for restraunts with a history of food poisoning to find the optimal toilet seats.
I think this is where the Fediverse can shine. If a Corp wants to join and host their own stuff, they can, and it will be really clear. Decentralization means that instead of a single broker of the information we can have a range from altruistic to straight up monetization exist side by side. But why some Corp would pay for a subreddit is crazy...I mean, what is the value prop? Companies would have to pay for the subreddit and then moderate it too?
Sigh...I own an EV and I will tell you that my reasons for buying it are less environmental and more practical. Not having to go to a gas station (charge at home) or how I literally have way more power than I need or that it's just fun to drive. You can shit on EVs, but in all reality they are a superior car if you don't get hung up on the fuel. I want to be better about the environment, but honestly, my EV is hands down my all time favorite car (and it's not a Tesla). So before you mock em, go test drive a few.
+1 to the no porn rule. I seriously considered hosting my own instance, but balked at the liability especially in regards to porn. I'm no prude, but having adult material seems like a serious headache.
The embrace/extend/extinguish arguments are all FUD arguments. Arguments 2 and 3 boil down to Threads effectively walling off their side, which would more or less mean de-federation. And what happens when your now free Lemmy instances starts requiring you to pay $8/month? Or what if some of the larger instances decide to commercialize and sell data? FUD is not a compelling argument: the same arguments were made about Microsoft and their open source embrace. And there are plenty of FUD arguments to make against Lemmy.
I would argue that federation with commercial entities will make for a better Fediverse. Sure Meta is subjectively Evil, but it's motives are clearer than some random dude's Lemmy instances. And by Federation there is ability to get high quality news, science and technology information. In less than a day, major players joined and were posting to Threads.
The email analogy is a false dichotomy. The reason behind the large email providers is because the cost of the running and maintaining an email server is cheaper than running your own. But you could run a trusted email service if you set up your DNS records correctly.