Just browse by /all...

When you see stuff you don't like, block it.

When you see stuff you like, subscribe to it.

so if there are instances with a bad history or full of chuds or something a heads up would be swell

Honestly?

Just dive on in.

There's a lot of places that are horrible, but don't seem like it at first. But figuring it out for yourself is a learning experience, and isn't just blindly trusting someone else who you don't know.

Most instances have open modlogs, but there's also accounts that weaponize that and ban people from communities they've never been in. What the modlog is very useful, is mod accountability. First time wandering into a new place, it doesn't hurt to look at the log and see what type of vibe but has.

Most of the time the mods should be removing the "last straw" comment to preserve it in the log, then banning the account. However in practice most mods (even me, not throwing shade) will just click "perm ban" and "remove all content".

Because none of this is actually that serious. If mods took it as serious as some users want, they burn out and crash out like that dude who built a hidden blocklist into his front end without telling anyone.

Can't give too many fucks about this stuff.