The biggest mistake* Mastodon made was that they promoted "Mastodon" instead of a specific instance.

I think they're absolutely right to just pick an instance and recommend that, or if that instance doesn't work, try this other one. Which instance they pick is not what I care about more than just picking some specific instance. Beehaw may or may not have been the best choice, but I'm glad they picked one.

*I understand why Mastodon wanted to be neutral, but it was horrible for onboarding people.