@david_megginson that is the exact problem that I want to get rid of. It really sucks. For example, I'd like to host a single-user AP server here at my flat, but knowing that it will use so much bandwidth is enough for me to reconsider it.
@soapdog Part of the problem is that we set the expectation that the fedi would work just like a monolithic social media site. If we reduced that expectation just a little, the demands would go down a lot.
Users already accept (or fail to notice) that Mastodon's search and hashtag features aren't really global across the fedi.
If you have a fediverse account, you can quote this note from your own instance. Search https://mstdn.ca/users/david_megginson/statuses/116193390583908337 on your instance and quote it. (Note that quoting is not supported in Mastodon.)