So here’s how I understand it:
lemmy.world, lemmy.fmhy.ml, beehaw, (instances) etc. are all basically different servers. But they essentially all have access to the same communities, aka the equivalent of a subreddit, even though some communities are are hosted on lemmy vs beehaw, etc.?
If my understanding is correct, then, for the layman, each different instance can be seen as a site to view any of the communities, so we can register with one instance, and browse everything they all have to offer. Is that about right? Sorry, I know a guide has been posted, but I’m trying to reduce the functionality to fit into my feeble mind.
That’s essentially correct, but a bit of further nuance is that different servers can choose which other servers it federates with or blocks. So in principle all servers can connect to all other services, but in practice that isn’t quite true. I’ve heard that there are indeed NSFW servers but most other servers don’t let them federate with them.