I've been playing around with it a bit as well and came to a similar conclusion. I think there is bound to be multiple versions of an instance, but much like on Reddit, the strong will survive. Good content, moderation, and server capacity will lead to one instance being able to support a larger user base. I'm excited to see a little diversity as new communities and instances emerge, challenging the long-running status quo.

Regarding the individual running instances, I think the same applies. I also choose to use Lemmy as a means of communication and sharing of ideas, not data storage. If I really want to keep something, I turn it into a Google Doc or store it on another service. Either way, this doesn't concern me too much.

I'm looking forward to being a little less of a lurker and join in on the conversation!