About moderation, IMHO it's pretty good, but you have to judge instances individually.
You wouldn't judge the web by a single website, you can't judge Mastodon by a single instance. There are literally thousands of instances!
Decentralisation lets human beings moderate in a way that is appropriate for their community.
For example, some instances might avoid politics, others might embrace it, others might be indifferent, but they will make these policies clear on their About page.