In the end it will be all about federating with the right communities and not about federating everyone anymore.
A lot of people who are defending "federate everyone" do it in the name of "fear of missing" and want the numbers at all cost. They are borderline addict to infinite content, but they are a danger to quality posting. You cannot mass post AND care about the quality of what you post. It takes time to find a good article to post.
Even here we will soon read about what Elon Musk had for breakfast and will post it in "tech". Some people want content, whatever the quality of what they read, even the title is enough for them. And sadly the current vote system works in their favor.
My guess is many of us will leave kbin for a more tight, content focused community. Also better tools will come up anyway.