It's a foot in the door. Truth be told, I think the overall federation of networks inherently allows for different configurations of servers, pods, and hubs running on a variety of platforms and services. Some people wouldn't mind taking an easy shortcut rather than having to self-administer every aspect of a server. Others are comfortable with joining community hubs, and some will start community hubs for other people based around interest, organization, or locality.

It should be easier, but the reality is that self-hosting has a number of technical hurdles that an individual person has to overcome.