It seems as though you're telling me what to find confusing. I did not find Mastodon straightforward to start on. Some of my friends found it even more difficult and simply gave up.
A large part of using Mastodon is understanding how federated networks work. That's something that needs to be explained and most people won't understand it.
You can be shocked but hey, that's the reality. It's more understanding the "why" rather than the "how".
Precisely, which underlines what I'm saying. It's not a conpiracy. It's too complicated for the lay user right now.