That’s fine for installing patches to the same version, and updates to some major software, but you won’t receive all the new features, and since versions are only supported for 13-months you’ll stop receiving updates by then. It’s good to familiarise yourself with the release cycle https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/releases/lifecycle/
I don’t agree with you that small instances lead to poorer quality, if anything there’s a better sence of community in a small forum.
I’d rather have more in common with old style unfederated forums than big social media.