It's nice to have a space to talk to your friends, and be the one setting the rules about what kind of behavior isn't okay in this space, instead of that space

It's nice to have a space to talk to your friends, and be the one setting the rules about what kind of behavior isn't okay in this space, instead of that space being owned by a corporation whose rules are largely designed to maximize their profits. Before the modern social media era there were billions of PHPBB sites that were largely differentiated only by the crowds who used them, and the choices the moderators made. It's really nice to have that back with some federation added in.