Fair point. I wonder if it becomes moot within the bigger context. If I know that it's enough that a person is on my instance for me to see their toot in the local TL, would I worry that I do not see it there if I'm also following?
Good job catching it. I'll add it to my backlog and have a think about that 😅. By extension: if I follow someone and they are on my instance then they will also be in the Federated TL... 😬
It's a challenge balancing complexity with 'easy to understand'.