I'm pretty sure most of us are still learning the platform, and the defederation is certainly adding to the list of things to figure out as a user. I'd rather people ask than just silently wonder. :)
While it's not the easiest to sort through, the Instances list at the bottom of the page shows every instance we're federated with and those that are blocked. This will always show what you do and don't have access to through your Beehaw account (or through your account on another instance should you sign up elsewhere). Direct link if it's easier: https://beehaw.org/instances
Yes, new instances usually automatically federate with everything. From what I've heard, there are "default" blocklists being maintained as far as what you might choose to block by default (so you don't have to go through the growing pains yourself if you don't want) or they could decide to whitelist instances which would then affect federation. And, as seen here, they can also defederate from any instance at any time if they feel the need.
If you're running your own instance, of course, you're the one calling the shots so you make those decisions and can federate with everything if that's what you want.
The admins have taken a stance where this should be a safe space and those being insulted/harassed/discriminated against are welcome to respond in kind. The most important part is to report it so the mods/admins can review and take action as needed.
While it may not be nice to tell nazi punks to fuck off, it will ultimately make for a nicer community if they do - we don't mind community members saying "hey, this isn't cool" in whatever manner they feel necessary.
I'm in complete agreement. When I joined Beehaw, I didn't think much of the lack of downvotes - "oh, cool, sounds good." It's definitely made it easier to want to interact with the community (as someone partial to lurking) and I've come to appreciate that they're disabled on this instance. Glad to see others are in agreement.
I do something similar - I've subscribed to a few communities now that have popped up at the top of my feed because I thought "oh, this looks cool"
Hmm, they might be visible because you're viewing it through your instance and someone on an instance with them enabled downvoted, but I can't be sure. This would be a better question for Beehaw Support, or maybe even Lemmy support since I'm not sure we have an answer based on my current understanding.
If you can make a tool work for you, that's what matters in my opinion. If not, well, not every tool is for everyone and that's cool too.
I probably wouldn't have spent much time on it if I couldn't just pick up sections and move them around the screen all willy-nilly. I thought it was neat, so the program held my attention where normally mind maps aren't my thing.
I do the same as you with Google Docs - it honestly never occurred to me to use something fancier. I did used to use a mind map software when I had grand ambitions of writing longer works, FreeMind.
While I would love to use pen and paper, my handwriting is a mess and it would get lost long before I ever moved it to a digital format.
Anything featuring writing prompts is something I like. I don't write as often as I'd like, but that would be the most likely to grab me and, even when I don't contribute, I like to save prompts I like to reference when I am in a writing mood.
I’m working through a backlog of playstation games, so currently working on the platinum trophy for Persona 4 Golden. I did p3p when both were released and played the first three games in the dark pictures anthology in between since they were on sale and I wanted to play something that would require fewer hours to complete.
This post from a few days ago has a few suggestions you could check out: https://beehaw.org/post/573948