I think it very likely was, similar to how mastodon.sdf.org was largely an afterthought. I say that because that server has had many maintenance issues in the past and I’ve seen people complaining about it while nothing gets done. Part of the reason I joined social.sdf.org instead.

Hell they managed to keep social.sdf.org up even when there was a power outage. They clearly care about that one a lot. Not Lemmy or the general Mastodon one though. These are just an afterthought because someone at SDF thought it would be really cool to get into the Fediverse.