This also displays where the federation that mastodon uses, has difficulty. If a rural post office closes (they do from time to time), unless you're using a ve

This also displays where the federation that mastodon uses, has difficulty. If a rural post office closes (they do from time to time), unless you're using a very old "rural route" style postal address ( https://pe.usps.com/text/pub28/28c2_021.htm https://pe.usps.com/text/pub28/28c2_021.htm ), your address doesn't change when a post office changes. Additionally, if you happen to live next to a person with unsavory views, the post office will still deliver all your mail to you. When a mastodon instance shuts down unexpectedly (it also happens from time to time), you need to start up a new identity somewhere else and your address changes. If your neighbor on an instance becomes problematic you may find that your messages aren't visible to others anymore as other instances start defederating from the instance that you are on. For situations where people say "well host your own...", for most of the populace, this is similar in practicality as staffing your own post office.