Was explaining to my family how no one "owns" #Mastodon & even with different instances, it all works. "But it's so confusing!" I said yes, right now it can be. So was email, at first. People on AOL didn't intuitively know how people on Prodigy would get their email. They quickly learned plus systems adapted to get easier. You know someone's email address? Great, now you're on email with them even though they're on a different email "instance." Mastodon is like a big giant public email system.