Ah, that's true. The first wave is always a mess, with a half dozen idealists sticking to principles and a million malcontents. And since it's the first wave, it gets to dictate the culture of the platform, that might become nasty as a result.

Lemmy didn't completely avoid this problem but I feel like it's a minor issue here (compared to, say, Ruqqus). Mostly due to

• timing - Lemmy grew because people were pissed at the APIcalypse, not due to some mass banwave
• federation - it's a small barrier of entry, but enough to discourage some troublemakers