Even though federation has led to racists and/or NATO defenders showing up, I've also encountered a number if very cool people from other instances posting things like helpful advice on federation stuff, vivid descriptions of getting vored by a pack of anthro-hyenas, interesting insights and opinions on Star Trek lore, etc. I still haven't found much in the way of active hobby communities, but it's pretty cool to see more Star Trek and furry stuff in the timeline, and I feel it makes having to deal with the occasional deranged lib worth it.
Anyways, to all the genuinely cool people who wander into Hexbear threads, I'm very glad you've showed up to bless us with your wonderful posts and I hope you stick around.
What I will miss though: criticizing China from the left
It is already difficult to do so on Chinese internet because of the censorship and periodic crackdowns (though there are still pockets of QQ groups you can join if you know where to look for them), and pre-federated Hexbear was really one of the last places on the internet where you could have a frank discussion on China without too much propagandized brainworms.
Now I find myself refraining from talking about China because of so many racist libs spouting nonsense propaganda.
I'm hoping we get a local only general purpose discussion comm for stuff like this