Q: Is it better to create my community on a large general Lemmy instance, a topical Lemmy instance, or create my own Lemmy instance?

A: It is up to you, but there are a few things to consider. General instances will likely help early discoverability, and your main account is likely already on one. However, your community will encounter risks of admin change and others defederating with the general instance for reasons unrelated to your community. If the account you want to be your main Lemmy home is on another instance, you must create an alt account on the general instance to create the community.

Local instances will let you be in control. You’ll have fewer worries about your community not being found due to defederation or the instance admins shutting it down over reasons unrelated to your community. However, you’ll have to rely on word of mouth, communities like this, and the community search tools like Lemmy Explorer to get people there.

Topical instances might be a good middle ground if you trust the instance admins. As the local feed will have related topics, you’ll likely be a positive contributor to the local instance feed and find a lot of shared interests with others on that instance. Topical instances will probably only be defederated by instances you wouldn’t want to federate with already. If the account you want to be your main Lemmy home is on another instance, you’ll need to create an alt account on the topical instance to create the community.