On reddit, you have reddit.com -> subreddits. on lemmy you have [all lemmys, including this one] -> the lemmy i have an account on -> communities.
Similar to how you can post on any subreddit if you have a reddit account, you can post on any lemmy community if you have an account on any lemmy server.
Think of it like old-school pre-reddit internet forums, if all of those forums were linked together, and as a whole they became a reddit-like thing.
This gives you an extra moderation step. Server/instance admins can ban an entire problematic server/instance, and you can have stricter or more lax rules depending on the server.
It’s a hybrid between old-school forums and modern reddit. lots of smaller, specialized or localized communities, which together as a whole become a reddit-like world. it’s the best of both worlds.
This is so emotionally manipulative / abusive, and says everything anyone needs to know about reddit/spez. It’s like if someone burns down your house and says “look i’m here to acknowledge that your house has been burned down, but we can still work things out bestie <3”