>If most of HN knows how to set up git and stand up a web server, why do most of use Github instead of running Gitlab on a home pc

You missed the point of the article. It wasn't advocating for everyone to run their own servers. git is a protocol, github is a site that wraps the protocol with its own rules. There's nothing wrong with that. Github is like the Gmail example of the article. Facebook is not.

It also wasn't advocating for zero moderation.