It also looks like I can only post and vote on my own instance, so hosting my own Lemmy is worthless, unlike email where I can host my own without any fundamental downsides (although there are some cultural downsides, for lack of a better term).
How is that thing ever supposed to scale?
If you just put all the effort into one single node, you’ve essentially destroyed the idea of decentralization.
Ideally, there will be more of a P2P structure for social media if everything moves forward. It doesn't solve for the problem where large companies can solve for doing the really large aggregation and drive engagement algorithmically. But even if 3-4 aggregators that are independent from each other emerge plus there being a relatively low barrier of entry to create your own, I think it could be sustainable and a major win. Privately funded social spaces are dying a quick death in the age of high interest rates.
Federating votes wouldn't be compatible with anonymous voting.
Not many people like removing CP when growing past a certain size.