yeah. i think the other problem is that people don't know if the instance would be good performance wise. i.e. i joined lemmy.ml because it was the one i found first.

A good way to handle it would be to have an instance list. with number of users vs maximum users. like joining a server in a video game. if i see its super full, i'll pick another server. of course, we'd need some large banners to make sure people know they won't be missing out on other instances.