I wouldn’t say no doubt. Some certainly would do that, others could have more integrity.

In the meantime there are some apps that “block” instances. Connect has it, but it doesn’t fully block the instance, more like it shows up in the feed with a content warning that the message is from a blocked instance and you can choose to view it if you want. I also do think lemm.ee will defederate from hexbear pretty soon. The admin has had personally horrendous experiences with their users and that meta thread about it was a dumpster fire of hexbear users making unrelated political comments and blocking the actual instance users from having a discussion. It got locked at almost 2000 comments so I’m sure he’s still digging through that toxic waste to make his decision.

The standard web UI also needs major improvements. Nobody logs in through an app for their first time and first impressions are critical. It needs to be easier to navigate and use without downloading an app so people will stick around long enough to get involved and have a good time.

I’ve always used a 3rd party app on my Android phones and it’s so much better than any of the texting programs they have had come installed on the device. There are so many issues. You could get a different program depending on what mfg your phone is from, which could be great or utterly suck. Hangouts used to be a thing but as far as I know texts s weren’t integrated into it so it was a secondary or additional app. Of course I don’t know what exactly iMessages even is but based on your comment, it’s better than that lol

Right, I wasn’t sure exactly what OP is trying to say and a little more explanation for what they’re thinking would be good. But I was thinking the same thing. “Like Walmart, Target, Kmart, the mall…but online?”