There are some great existing tools. Some of my favorites, in no particular order, include:

- https://fedidb.com/welcome (this one served as a big inspiration, more on that later)
- https://instances.social
- https://fedi.garden

And there is also https://joinmastodon.org/servers. I like that you can browse by topic and location, but beyond that, there isn't enough meaningful information to distinguish individual servers.

The above examples each have their strenghts. I particularly like how the one on FediDB lets you pick by community size and age, allowing you to, for example, find small, but established servers. This is one idea I took for my prototype.

And I like the hand-picked/curated approach of Fedi.Garden. I was wondering if there's a way to expand on it, and even include some automation to make the management of servers easier.

And finally, to step back, I've thought about why so many people prefer to stick with corporate-run social media. Do they perhaps seem more legitimate than what may look like "just a hobby" from the outside?

Anyway. Here is what I came up with.

https://communities.jointhefediverse.net

Now, I consider this a prototype, so rather than people suggesting which servers to add, I'd like to first hear thoughts on the ideas I implemented.