Using Lemmy is fine, don't be afraid to use Lemmy. We're just talking about how lemmy.ml's practices affect Lemmy's reputation.

I mean Lemmy itself is simply a program/network that connects to other pieces of itself. lemmy.ml is different to lemmy.world for example, even though they might feel or seem like one thing.

Lemmy itself is fine, people are more worried about the lemmy.ml moderation practices since it's one of the bigger instances.