IMO, Lemmy would gain far more users if you were able to create a user account without having to be approved by a server first.
If communities want to remain invite only that’s fine. But I really, really think you guys should decouple account creation from the requirement of being approved by a server. It’s a barrier to entry that imo will prevent many users from registering.
Edit: If not global auto-approving of user account creation, I think what would be a more reasonable request is an indicator of whether a server auto-approves account creation or whether it is invite only.
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.
I imagine the devs and people who have worked on Lemmy and the Fediverse would love nothing else but to have these platforms be the mainstream social networks, but I don’t think it’s all run like a corporation focusing only on growth.
I think quality over quantity is imperative. Not for nothing we are all fleeing cumbersome and crumbling platforms like Twitter, Facebook and reddit.