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There are different opinions on Beehaw's registration process. I kind of see how some people would find it dissuasive, specially after most of us are coming from Reddit. But I still think it's very practical, at least for the time being.
Btw, this is only my opinion as a new user, I don't know any of the admins/mods. Link to my original comment.
Vetting users with a questionnaire is a good idea, allows admins to see who they should let in. What and how a person answers the questions tells a lot about the applicant.
I never read the policies before signing up. I just answered the question like a human being would and was accepted within the hour.
Frankly, I think there’s more effort required of the mods than is required of the registrant, but I do appreciate a community with an opinion.
Didn't felt like an interview at all, I don't think the "what do you want to contribute" question was there when I signed up 2 weeks ago, but I remember the other 2 and it took me 2 or 3 sentences it was literally just "I heard great things about beehaw, people seem great and the ones shitting on lemmy on reddit right now are sounding like the people I'll want nothing to do with in the future and they're making here soumd even cooler, so I want in."
It would take me zero effort to add how a sentence or so about how I like to help and see here grow and not devolve into a toxic mess.
Also, I know a lot of people don't use facebook these days, but many groups now have a vetting process like that now and the chillest ones will always, without fault, have something that with 3 questions and one that will just force you to read the rules to find a random word password in them. The ones that don't turn into a mess real fast. So that's not even a niche thing, the "normies" do it with no problem.
@eclipse also as a new user coming from Reddit, I personally liked that they are screening new users. Super quick and easy to fill out.
Took me 5 minutes, was approved a couple hours later. just answer the questions honestly.
I personally don't find it a problem but I think it may lose a lot of users who are simply too impatient to fill out the questionnaire and then wait to see if they were approved.
Beehaw's registration process is quite easy, asking you only to write a few words on why you want to join (which could just be "it seems like a nice instance"), in comparison to other registration processes I've seen and done.
I've been through registration process where to guarantee that you've read the rules and anything required would hide words in the post containing that essential content and then asked you questions of which the answers where those words. Sometimes with the addition on asking you why you wanted to join.
This (Beehaw's registration process) is nothing in comparison
I was just accepted yesterday. I have social anxiety, so a younger, less self-aware version of myself would never have even submitted it. But thank goodness I've gotten better at this type of thing. Instead of over-analyzing and writing a huge essay, I timeboxed my response. Thankfully, it seems to have worked.
From what I can tell, I really do align with what the admins are after, here. I hope that it continues to work well.
Honestly, if you aren't prepared to fill out a simple text box to join the instance, I'd prefer you went somewhere else.
Or if you're just going to lurk... you don't need to make an account at all! As I did for the first week before deciding on whether or not to join, lmao
Right? If you can’t come up with a minimal answer to a very simple question, how could you possibly contribute positively in any way whatsoever here? And why would you even want to join this instance? This isn’t meant to be a shitposting low effort instance…
I'm really glad they ask a screening question. It takes like max 30 seconds of your time to form coherent thoughts and add them to the form. I want to have discussions with folks who are capable of doing that.
Leaving Reddit made me realize that being a part of a truly affirming & thoughtful space is still possible. I'm so used to taking all the racism and classism and transphobia for granted - like "oh I'm on the internet, of course people are complete garbage." What if we all had a stake in making spaces that actually serve us? What if we were ALL a little more invested in contributing? Seeing all the folks coming from Reddit complaining about how the Fediverse is just infuriating & and impossible to understand kinda shook me, too. I was like that for the first like 3 hours of trying to figure out what the Fediverse is - "why isn't there just one fucking website and I can search all the fucking communities and see them all in one gd place holy shit I hate this, way to make it unnecessarily complicated" - and then I went and read about it and figured it out (somewhat). I put in a little effort. Realized, holy shit, I'm so fucking apathetic after years of companies spoon-feeding me shit in exchange for my personal data. Like "just make it easy whiiine yes accept all cookies yes you can read all my messages and contacts whatever just open the damn app" and it's like. Fuck it doesn't need to BE like this. We don't NEED to just put up with this shit.
Life is always kicking my ass and sometimes writing 3 coherent sentences after a week of working and not enough sleep is just too much. Like I'm constantly burnt out and sometimes, it really is too much. But if we all did even .5% more, if we thought about what we were doing and put even that .5% more effort, if we committed to thinking and contributing just .5% more, maybe we could really make shit happen. I think it's worth a try.
So yeah, I wrote a few lines on my application. Come on y'all, we can do this.
yeah I think a lot of people who haven't actually done it are misconstruing it as something far more than it was. I wrote 3 sentences for each but a commenter on another instance thought I needed to write "3 essays"
I don't know why people can't be bothered to click the "register" button to see for themselves. I've spent more time writing each individual post I've made on Beehaw than I did the questions for registration. Granted, I also read all of the literature discussing the philosophy and goals of Beehaw beforehand and had the answers in my mind by the time I saw the questions, but it was really just a line or two per prompt. Basically the bare minimum of user vetting. Imagine my surprise when I see people talk about it like we were asked for an in-depth literary analysis of the themes behind "Great Expectations" and how they can be translated to the modern world.
The way I see it, it doesn't take that much longer than writing a post or even a long comment. If a person isn't willing to take the time to do that, I wonder how much they were going to contribute to the community in the first place? lol
reminds me of the people who got pissed when we defederated from a few instances. I guess they're just angry that they don't have access to something other people do, even if they won't use it.
They're so accustomed to centralised social media that allows them to troll and bait without caring for the people in those platforms, that, when, they find instances here, like Beehaw, that do not want to have contact with people and instances that promote that type of attitude, they feel confused and betrayed.
They expected the fediverse, Lemmy, Beehaw to be a replacement for Reddit, not only as content/link/information aggregation platform, but as a place to continue acting like they acted on Reddit with no consideration or understanding that they aren't in Reddit anymore.
The fact that many are calling Beehaw admin/mod team "snobby" "snowflakes", etc just says it all
The fact that many are calling Beehaw admin/mod team “snobby” “snowflakes”, etc just says it all
I even saw one that called them "oversensitive ninnies" and it was weird how they didn't make the connection as to why they defederated
I mean, one of my first posts here was arguing with a user who said that "using the word 'minorities' is offensive since it doesn't include everybody" and kept arguing points like that.
Then they huffed and lamented that "clearly [they were] not welcome here."
I half-expected a "so much for the tolerant left!" before they self-exiled.
Poor little guy! This place is obviously far too rough of a neighborhood for them to be comfortable!
“using the word ‘minorities’ is offensive since it doesn’t include everybody”
That has to be one of the stupidest things I've read in a while
You know what? I was mistaken here. They were offended that someone brought up the governor of Florida and equated it to comparing them to governor of Florida.
But my point still stands, as this was some of their comments/replies.
So many people are just looking for something to complain about with Beehaw. Just go to another instance. It's not that hard! That's the beauty of the Fediverse!
I'm not complaining, but it did feel like an interview to me. But that's just my anxiety talking. I haven't gotten logged in yet, but I've heard there's a backlog of accounts to get through that have been approved. High volume of applications causing issues, I'm guessing. But I don't think the three questions is a bad thing for beehaw to require. If you can't be bothered to put in that little amount of effort, then you probably won't actively contribute, with comments or posts, so what will you bring to the community? Or if people give negative/troll answers, it keeps them out.
A lot of comments from people with social anxiety; as someone with social anxiety and aspergers, figured I may as well throw my thoughts into the ring.
I've been through the "approval process" dance a few times now, both for Mastodon and Lemmy and honestly, I don't really find it that bad. The secret is internalizing that mods have so many applications to get through, so they won't really scrutinize your language or overanalyze it to too much. I know easier said than done, but really, the fact that you're putting any amount of thought into it is probably more than most people.
Honestly, I think approvals is a good system and should be the norm for social media sites; it slows down trolls/bots ability to make accounts, and IMO is better than all the alternatives. Email is problematic, capchas aren't really accessible, and screw Instagram requiring you to take a photo of yourself when you sign up. One site I signed up for actually wanted you to ask another user to "vouch" for you as not a troll which means talking to scary strangers.
I think there is a "cultural" miscommunication though. A lot of us are deeply ingrained in "fediverse culture" where this sort of thing is the norm, and so we intuitively understand that it should only be a sentence or two.
However, if you look at where non-fediverse people have seen this type of requirement before? Job applications, university applications, that sort of thing. I think this is why people think that they need to write long, intricately detailed posts saying why they deserve to join what feels like an exclusive club.
I think Beehaw could make it clearer that they are only looking for about three sentences demonstrating that you've read the documents (actually, do you need to fully read the documents? It's a bit unclear), and that you aren't being "graded". Out of interest though, would "I just want to lurk and read posts" be acceptable as an answer to the third question?
Thanks for sharing your experience! Before I read your comment I thought it would just keep some people away who wouldn't adhere to the rules anyway. Having ADHD myself it was just another task to struggle with, nothing out of the ordinary. I put it on my list and did it at a time i could concentrate on it sufficiently.
Hold on. Does instagram actually make you take a photo of yourself to sign up now? lol And some people complaining about having to answer three questions...
It did for me! I made an account a few months ago, and it immediately suspended me and asked for a phone number. I gave it that and then it asked for a photo of me holding a piece of paper with my username.
Think it might have been because I did the cardinal sin of not using a gmail or hotmail email.
But creating an account using my Facebook account and single sign on works, so ehhh.
Screw all these companies wanting access to your phone number... Bleh.
It's not like you have to write an essay. I just wrote a couple of sentences and was accepted almost immediately. Took me all of 1 minute total to apply and could post within the hour.
Exactly this. You’re not submitting for your PhD, it shows you’re not a bot and interested in contributing to the community.