I think you and I are talking about different things. I agree that I can follow anyone on the #Fediverse from any account (as long as I know their address or can search them), I can follow any topic/hashtag, etc I want, I can pull in any RSS feed.
But if I am on instance X, I cannot post on instance Y _from_ instance X having been logged in there; I can at mention a user and any post I make from at instance X will show up on instance Y feed for a user who either traverses the global timeline or as a follower, but those are different things.
_Within_ an instance, in order to participate in discussions or discover _new contents_, I will still need to log in to that particular instance. There is no other way.
In the attached image, I have shown you a #Mastodon instance qoto.org. If I use the posting box there, I can only post to qoto.org. Whatever I post there will show up on my timeline in another instance alright, but as user@qoto.org, if I have to post something, then I will need to _either_ visit that site on a browser or log in as that user on an app (e.g. Tusky or whatever). Once I am _inside_ the app, I can discover new contents and all that.
Other than that, indeed, for following individuals or topics etc, one does not need to _visit_ an instance. But to _read_ contents _within_ an instance that goes beyond following individuals or topics, there is a need to visit individual instances to be kept up (say following conversations and discussions in press.coop, you need to visit or create an account there, because following random accounts with press.coop will not work.
But if I am on instance X, I cannot post on instance Y _from_ instance X having been logged in there; I can at mention a user and any post I make from at instance X will show up on instance Y feed for a user who either traverses the global timeline or as a follower, but those are different things.
_Within_ an instance, in order to participate in discussions or discover _new contents_, I will still need to log in to that particular instance. There is no other way.
In the attached image, I have shown you a #Mastodon instance qoto.org. If I use the posting box there, I can only post to qoto.org. Whatever I post there will show up on my timeline in another instance alright, but as user@qoto.org, if I have to post something, then I will need to _either_ visit that site on a browser or log in as that user on an app (e.g. Tusky or whatever). Once I am _inside_ the app, I can discover new contents and all that.
Other than that, indeed, for following individuals or topics etc, one does not need to _visit_ an instance. But to _read_ contents _within_ an instance that goes beyond following individuals or topics, there is a need to visit individual instances to be kept up (say following conversations and discussions in press.coop, you need to visit or create an account there, because following random accounts with press.coop will not work.
