@Gargron i would say that the 500 character limit enables far more detailed and thoughtful discussion than twitter, and that i haven't noticed much of a need for moderation because the software on which mastodon physically deters harassment, and instances that harbor hateful users and rhetoric are likely not to be federated with other instances, to gain traction, or last beyond the exhaustion of storage space.
it's the first popular social networking framework that is actually worthy of its name