I wonder sometimes if the numbers are wrong. For example a server I host is up quite a bit in user count and posts, but according to the site the numbers are down considerably. It's strange but it's only a less than 20ish users setup. Plus not all federated services act the same.

Some have sub/supersets of the protocol implemented. For example, bookwyrms way of working with posts are wildly different than mastodon and hashtags will work one way and not the other.

I think it ultimately means that number may not be as accurate for a while while all these different servers figure out what it means to be federated.

My favourite type of posts is the ones by people signed up in one instance, posting in a community hosted by another instance about how they don't understand how they are supposed to make use of federation. And then often still not getting it when people from all over the web tell them that they already are.

It makes sense though - federation is sold as a feature for users, but when done right the users should hardly notice it at all. So of course people end up a bit confused.

Interesting