I actually am a little curious what TheDude’s opinion is on open vs closed registration policy. If having a closed registration policy is all that is needed for beehaw to refederate then perhaps that is an option, otherwise let us just hope the necessary mod tools (or more than 4 beehaw mods) happen to allow for refederation. It’s a shame since I feel like this is a really important / formative time and I do not think larger instances defederating is productive.
I don’t think we should reevaluate our policy just to get 1 specific instance to refederate us…. Anyway, Beehaw’s mindset has always been exclusive and restrictive, despite being a larger instance. Even if we switch to closed registration, they may disagree with our vetting process. It’s just part of their community ideals of creating a “safe space” aligned with their “community values”. I completely disagree with their course, but it’s their instance, so whatever, their call.
Yeah i started trying to register at .ml then Beehaw and was immediately put off about the user registration. Like dude let me join or don’t but open questions with unclear reasons and motives is super off putting, especially when questions are like:
how do you wish to contribute?
I don’t know I have not stated using your space yet, I don’t have a feel for the server, nor the types of posts or communitiea available.
What communitiea are you going to join/use?
I don’t know, whichever ones stand out as interesting, seriously get out of my business lol.
Beehaws just weird honestly, at that point they would be running this instance and how we accept and moderate users. I agree it’s a very poor time and I bet reddit admins and redditors are laughing at us struggling to form a community.
Having neutral instances defederating each other over how they accept users isn’t a good look. We don’t need to be centralized that’s why we are federated.
Isn’t that the whole point of federating though? Each server can decide what is acceptable and what isn’t. In that case, for whatever reason, beehaw decided that sh.it and lemmy not having user vetting is a no go for them.
From a user perspective (who’ve been active on Masto for a while)
Closed registration because it’s what the instance can handle : Fine and part of the fediverse.
Moderated registration : How do you define who can join ? It’s fine and even intended to have small instances for the admin and their friends, but if you go bigger, how do you deal with a real newcomer, not someone who’s been on slashdot/reddit/mastodon for decades and just have to send a couple of DM to get an invite ?
I wonder if we’ll get to something resembling the system used by private BitTorrent trackers. Invites and open registration periods where interviews or “proofs” of being a good internet user are required.
Well, in their case they are looking for proof that the applicant is a responsible torrenter. Typically what is accepted is screenshots showing one’s private user page at other reputable private torrent sites showing upload-to-download ratio, whether they had any warnings etc. The major sites have highly experienced mod teams with accounts at a huge range of sites and can often cross reference the information in the screenshots if they care enough to.
I do find it a bit odd that they didn’t defederate from all open ones, if the problem is ban evasion then people can just change. I don’t think their ban evasion preventative plan is going to work at all. Some of the “restricted” registrations are really just delayed and some are more gatekeepy so it’s not really a solution for them
I actually am a little curious what TheDude’s opinion is on open vs closed registration policy. If having a closed registration policy is all that is needed for beehaw to refederate then perhaps that is an option, otherwise let us just hope the necessary mod tools (or more than 4 beehaw mods) happen to allow for refederation. It’s a shame since I feel like this is a really important / formative time and I do not think larger instances defederating is productive.
But that’s just my uneducated 2 cents :p
I don’t think we should reevaluate our policy just to get 1 specific instance to refederate us…. Anyway, Beehaw’s mindset has always been exclusive and restrictive, despite being a larger instance. Even if we switch to closed registration, they may disagree with our vetting process. It’s just part of their community ideals of creating a “safe space” aligned with their “community values”. I completely disagree with their course, but it’s their instance, so whatever, their call.
That’s why I’m here, actually. I like the idea of a safe space, but asking to join them to look at memes felt too much like applying for a job.
Yeah i started trying to register at .ml then Beehaw and was immediately put off about the user registration. Like dude let me join or don’t but open questions with unclear reasons and motives is super off putting, especially when questions are like:
how do you wish to contribute? I don’t know I have not stated using your space yet, I don’t have a feel for the server, nor the types of posts or communitiea available.
What communitiea are you going to join/use? I don’t know, whichever ones stand out as interesting, seriously get out of my business lol.
Beehaws just weird honestly, at that point they would be running this instance and how we accept and moderate users. I agree it’s a very poor time and I bet reddit admins and redditors are laughing at us struggling to form a community.
Wouldn’t say it’s struggling, things will naturally fall in place. Doesnt need to be as centralised as reddit was
Having neutral instances defederating each other over how they accept users isn’t a good look. We don’t need to be centralized that’s why we are federated.
Isn’t that the whole point of federating though? Each server can decide what is acceptable and what isn’t. In that case, for whatever reason, beehaw decided that sh.it and lemmy not having user vetting is a no go for them.
From a user perspective (who’ve been active on Masto for a while)
Closed registration because it’s what the instance can handle : Fine and part of the fediverse.
Moderated registration : How do you define who can join ? It’s fine and even intended to have small instances for the admin and their friends, but if you go bigger, how do you deal with a real newcomer, not someone who’s been on slashdot/reddit/mastodon for decades and just have to send a couple of DM to get an invite ?
I wonder if we’ll get to something resembling the system used by private BitTorrent trackers. Invites and open registration periods where interviews or “proofs” of being a good internet user are required.
How exactly do those BitTorrent trackers ‘prove’ that someone is a good internet user? It seems like it would be quite an onerous task.
Well, in their case they are looking for proof that the applicant is a responsible torrenter. Typically what is accepted is screenshots showing one’s private user page at other reputable private torrent sites showing upload-to-download ratio, whether they had any warnings etc. The major sites have highly experienced mod teams with accounts at a huge range of sites and can often cross reference the information in the screenshots if they care enough to.
I do find it a bit odd that they didn’t defederate from all open ones, if the problem is ban evasion then people can just change. I don’t think their ban evasion preventative plan is going to work at all. Some of the “restricted” registrations are really just delayed and some are more gatekeepy so it’s not really a solution for them