How the different instances interact.

Just signed up, and trying to get a feel for what's going on. Please correct me if I get anything wrong.

You create an account on an instance
for content on that instance, things work more or less like reddit
for content not on that instance, if you type <magazine>@<instance.url> into the search bar, it will automatically create a magazine "from a federated server".
this magazine works like all other local instances,
but also, your instance will periodically download posts from the remote instance
and I assume, send posts to that instance as well.
all actions by you are done on the local instance, then copied to other instances
how often an instance updates a particular magazine seems quite varied, and perhaps up to the owners of the instance?
One user is complaining about a magazine not being updated in over 3 weeks.
a magazine has both a threads section & a microblog section
- these sections are completely independent
you cannot create a thread/post that isn't part of a magazine

Some terms: