There's definitely a happy medium between most HOAs where over-controlling self-important 'Karens' try to dictate their preferences on everyone and a free-for-all where people are deliberately poor neighbors just because they can.
I've lived in places with both extremes.
Now, we have almost no rules, but the neighbors are decent people and don't go out of their way to annoy each other.
One guy has a firing range (commercial). He always lets us know if they will be shooting at odd hours. No rules, just common decency.