We need a main repository for all instances and a huge banner explaining the instance you choose doesn't really matter except for the community tab and whether or not an instance is defederated from another.

Then just have a recommended with like 10 instances comparing all the differences.

When I first heard about federation I was very confused too because most of the explanations go way too into detail for the layperson. If they want to appeal to the masses they gotta fix that.

On Mastodon I think it auto picks Mastodon.social. On the apps at least I think it would be good if they had a little (very simple with pictures) 3-4 panel tutorial explaining federation and instances and after just have a list that has some recommendations while also allowing you to filter based on interests and the like.

Imo besides the confusion when signing up I think the next worst part is instances defederating/blocking. It's a bit hard to explain and it would be very annoying to someone to join something like beehaw and realize they can't interact with hundreds of other instances.

It really doesn't help that as far as I know when your instance blocks another you can still view the other instance from yours but you'll only see posts from before your instance was blocked or posts from only people also on your instance, making it seem like a weird ghost town.

Overall I think fediverse in general needs to really streamline and dumb down the process if they want it to catch on.