In smaller instances, you can easily reach the Admin and are much more likely to get a response. Also, the moderation is likely done completely by the Admin and not by a less-invested person who might be enjoying the power and control of being a moderator.
From my experience, about 80% of opened reports are self-resolvable and don't need Admins or moderators and is just someone seeing the world through a biased lens, so everything they don't believe becomes misinformation, and they start opening reports for vengeance. When many of these keep coming, it wears Admins and moderators down, and they are more likely to just ban than respond. This fatigue is not something a small instance Admin experiences. They give more thought to the situation.
I was banned on mastodon . social because someone who disagreed with me perfectly crafted a complaint (they apparently had a lot of experience doing this) that took what I wrote out of context to seem like I was saying something else, and .social banned me instantly and denied the appeal. The claim was total fiction. They didn't care. They had a stack of reports to get through. I had no hope of reaching an Admin.
I never used a large instance again.
Just something, maybe, to think about.