I wouldn't call the fediverse or its instances a place or places. In my understanding, or rather: in my preference, I view instances both as conversations (internally) and as doors into other conversations (regarding other instances and the fediverse as a whole). As they are doors, the metaphor becomes shaky, because nobody lives on a door sill. The image of a place also invites the view that admins are (or act like) landlords and users as tenants who have to "obey the rules" or are otherwise going to be dealt with ... like raucous tenants. What such imagery emphasizes is a hierarchy in favour of admins and mods, and omitts the equally important aspect that it is the users and their conversations that lend an instance its character, out of which often its reputation grows. As the dependence of admins and users is mutual, "place" becomes a less adequate metaphor. It also entails a conflation of the mere technical aspects of instances with their content and impact.