I make podcasts when I’m not doing this.
Myths and Legends: https://www.mythpodcast.com
Mastodon: https://weiser.social/@jason
GPG: https://keyoxide.org/jason@jasonweiser.com
openpgp4fpr:A825533E6C2A1055CE5FB8D13016FA1937B4D948
lol I was the same way. I went from not being able to see just beehaw to spotty federation with many other instances (oddly enough beehaw and the kbin instances are nearly perfect), so I’m not yet sure if it was an upgrade.
Tangentially-related, I’m actually really excited to use Threads’s federation with Mastodon to bring interested friends and family over to Mastodon. If you get all the same benefits (connection, more people) with none of the ads or privacy downsides, then it seems like a no-brainer to join Mastodon over Threads.
But to answer the question, no. I run my own Mastodon (and Lemmy) server. I’m kind of all-in on the fediverse.