Yes, news and worldnews are different things. But the ones I mentioned above are the same thing, different subreddits. Like me_irl and meirl. No reason for there to be two, but there are.

So sure, maybe the Federation thing makes it even more common. But it’s not a new problem, and it mostly self corrects. People gravitate to the bigger community. The smaller community will get some strays asking why there is not much movement here, and somebody will reply because we’re all at this other place and then the next stray sees the message and doesn’t even have to ask.