I think of relays as independent servers, which do not gossip to other relays.

In the following paragraph, strings of capital letters are just monikers for imaginary relays.

I don't like structuring relays into some kind of network because then I have to trust more nodes than I strictly need to.  If I have a digitally signed message (kind 10002) from Steve Bellovin saying that he posts to relay XYZ, then why not go directly to XYZ to get his stuff?  Why should I trust that ABC will get it from DEF who will get it from GHI... too many points of failure.

I know that some people do trust LMNOP and will get everything from LMNOP just to offload workload and maintain privacy, and this model I call a "client proxy model" and it makes sense -- you just sort-of extend your client forward where the forward part goes to XYZ and your local part just talks to the forward part.  But I prefer not to proxy my client's work, I prefer direct access, getting notes from the source, with the minimum chance of censorship because I'm on a desktop and I can. 

 The main argument for proxies then are that personal relays might have less capacity and/or availability than proxies that are basically trustless caches or CDNs at this scenario  

 This is interesting. My thoughts on relay went from an electromagnetic switch - to channels - to independent servers - to everybody seeing everything, and I still have not fully comprehended the technology nor the potentials of it. 

On relays as independent servers - i assumed this was the case but the gossip concept enables discoverability no ? 

On networked relays /nodes - i get your point that the error rate and chances of failure can increase. I presume this also has direct access capability but  @someone can correct me on this. 

On client proxy model - i’m guessing this would be the easiest and would cater to the largest of adopters.

Is it possible for people to switch between general access and private access ? In this manner, general access can have client proxy model, nodes, gossip mode 

And in private access, its private relays to whom or where they post and only those who are accepted to read that relay can access it and write on it 

I don't know if this is already available but I am guessing general access and private access has to happen independently /asynchronous . 

I don’t know enough so feel free to correct me, and anyone who wants to step into the discussion are welcome! 
 

 I don't think everybody ought to own a relay. The vast majority of people should purchase service from a reputable service provider, or from multiple ones, or use some of the vast number of still-free relays.

But everybody CAN run their own relay. You are free, it is your choice. Nothing stops that from happening except the fact that it won't actually happen.

But even if it did happen, this is not a terrible outcome.  It is just parallel to everybody running their own website and you running an RSS reader that reads from them all.