I had joined Reddit twice in my lifetime but was not actively using it, and maybe that’s the reason I’m not very familiar with this forum culture.
I would say that Lemmy is by far the most responsive SNS in terms of the community engagement that I’ve ever used.
I believe that any location that has eyeballs for advertisers or propagandists will always eventually be ruined for greed or power. The question is how long it will take. Even with careful moderation, slip up happens, corruption is slowly allowed, and special interests will seek to sway popular opinion in one way or the other.
What a great take from you! Btw I also have a friend that his name quite similar to your name, Mechaquan. He is ICP advocate.