Not sure if what you implemented was the legacy style of finger or the newer webfinger...but the indieweb community certainly uses (or used to use?) webfinger for discovery. See: https://indieweb.org/WebFinger
While I've only done it very few times...whenever i have set up old school things, the challenge is ALWAYS that i end up being alone - with no one to play with said stuff. So, the initial fun always wears off. But, I'm glad that you have undertaken playing around with old school finger, and wish you well and hope you have some good fun! :-)