You're pretty much right. I am on Fedia as well, just because I'm exploring. It's been difficult to go past the concept stage in my head while here, simply because it's currently limited due to the growth and cloud flare hindrance (this is, from what I've seen, is partly causing the federation issues). At Fedia, I've been able to sort of practice the platform. It is federated with lemmy and other instances, so you get the access to other "subs" and the users there as well. If/when the platforms get sorted, and I'm able to fully vet the instances to see where I fit better, I'll make a commitment. As it stands, I'll just swap back and forth as needed and keep exploring.
I highly recommend checking Fedia, if not just to become more acquainted on how this all meshes together!