Subreddits had different “codes of conduct” as well. Every single subreddit has different community rules while the overall centralized site also has an over-arching code of conduct. I suppose there were users who just ignored this completely, I assume the same will be true anywhere else.
I don’t think this is anything novel or confusing - but I agree with above commenter who said the rules should be somewhere visible and easy to access for people from other instances.
Wait, your high school had a pool? And it was on the roof?!