Growing is usually good. Do the expanded tools to the admins warrant the additional headache?
Sometimes being small and having your own dark little corner of the internet where the “normies” don’t hang out is OK too.
A lot of forums started with a barrier of entry that required a small bit of tech savvy to get there. Not that picking an instance to get on the fediverse is that hard, but if it’s keeping someone at bay, that might be preferable.