When you go to sign up there is a note that says you must fill an application and be approved.

I’m saying there should be an box/non-clickable banner on this page on the opposite side of the box from the join button which indicates whether a server has open registration or not. Just a simple visual tag, nothing complex.

And it probably serves as a deterrent.

Precisely, and I don’t necessarily think that is a positive thing. I can understand if Lemmy servers don’t have the system resources to maintain a large simultaneous userbase as a reason to keep them invite only, since unlike something like Reddit it’s decentralized, and therefore many servers would not be able to afford sufficient hosting to accommodate such a large userbase, at least initially.

However, if the Lemmy network’s goal is to grow quickly and gain adoption, putting an artificial impediment in front of users wanting to register seems counter to that goal.

Gotcha, so basically they’re detached from the main network and thus don’t appear in other users feeds?

I opened a github issue for this here: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/2899

Chances are this will change on some instances once more anti-spam things are put in place.

Fair enough!

Cool, then we’re in agreement! I’ve opened a github issue per your suggestion here: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/2899

Would automod functionality and keyword ban list for usernames serve to alleviate those concerns you have? If not, is there any solution you would propose that you think may work to solve that issue?

I’m merely thinking about growing Lemmy’s popularity. Considering that there will soon be a large exodus from reddit, removing as many barriers to entry to the Lemmy platform/ecosystem will speed up adoption and more of the users leaving reddit would be likely to join Lemmy.

Any artificial barrier to entry will dissuade some portion of users from registering, regardless of how small that contingent may be. I do not want any user to be dissuaded from joining the ecosystem because there is a mandatory invite only requirement for all servers. I’d prefer for the Lemmy ecosystem to grow as fast as possible.

Decentralized social networks rate of adoption is already very slow, and we can see that from the limited userbase of Mastodon which launched 7 years ago and has approximately 4.5 million users compared to reddit’s 1.6 billion. Yes, Mastodon launched in 2016 which is much later than reddit did, since reddit launched in 2005.

However, reddit has several orders of magnitude more users with only 11 years of additional time being open.

I’d just really like to see the platform take off.

Thank you for the suggestion, I’ll go ahead and do so. I sincerely appreciate the input, that is actionable.

How do you feel about a simple tag/indicator on the join-lemmy.org site that indicates whether a server has open registration or is invite only?

Basically a little tag for each server on the join-lemmy.org server page that which indicates whether a server allows you to automatically create an account or is not invite only. I think that would suffice.

Yeah as long as there is an indicator of whether a server is an open instance or not would immediately solve the issue I’m describing, for myself at least.

I fully and wholeheartedly support that. I think the best solution now after some reflection would to just add an indicator the join-lemmy.org server listing page on whether a server automatically approves accounts or if they are invite only. Would that be agreeable to you?

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We are in total agreement on that! I think a better solution to what I’m suggesting would be a simple indicator on the join-lemmy.org site on whether a server allows automatic account registration to join the server or if it is invite only. Would that be agreeable to you? I think that would obviate the need for any other solution I’ve mentioned here.

Question then, would a viable solution to what I’m suggesting be simply adding an indicator of whether servers auto-approve user account creation or not on the join-lemmy.org site?

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but if the site did become overloaded in spam

But if the protocol for Lemmy is already decentralized, it would still be entirely up to the admins of the server to allow instant account approval or not, would it not? Lemmy.ml is not the entire lemmy protocol, Lemmy.ml gets to decide the rules here, and banning hate speech accounts from approval is a totally legitimate decision on their part because they don’t want that kind of spam here.

That’s what mods are for on reddit, so I’m currently failing to see the problem. Moderators exist on Lemmy servers right? That’s how reddit solves the problem, why can’t that work the same way on Lemmy?

The admins of the server have every right to ban users they don’t want on their server or to make their server invite only, I am absolutely not contesting that. Their space, their rules. A violation of the servers rules should absolutely result in a ban.

No prob! If you don’t want to continue discussing that’s entirely your prerogative, and I won’t push the issue further.

Okay then to be honest, I’m really struggling to see the problem with what I’m saying here, since it seems to me you are agreeing that independent servers get to make those types of decisions. I’m a little confused and could use some clarification on what you mean.