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.
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.
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.
Took me 5 minutes, was approved a couple hours later. just answer the questions honestly.
@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.
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.
Honestly, if you aren’t prepared to fill out a simple text box to join the instance, I’d prefer you went somewhere else.
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…
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
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.
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.
I honestly have not tried to sign up for beehaw so I can’t comment on the registration process itself in detail, but I do find that they’re intentionally trying to be picky a little strange. It seems to me that beehaw is trying to build a community that isn’t actually all that well suited for a federated setup. Which is fine but like, maybe they should just make a forum?
Sure it is! Beehaw limiting instance users and curating the instances they connect to isn’t a bad thing. Their users want a close knit instance with links to other instances who suit their philosophy. Those who choose Beehaw choose it for that reason. That we can all choose a good home here is absolutely how federation should work.
I honestly have not tried to sign up for beehaw so I can’t comment on the registration process itself in detail, but I do find that they’re intentionally trying to be picky a little strange. It seems to me that beehaw is trying to build a community that isn’t actually all that well suited for a federated setup.
if federation can’t accommodate the idea of a curated community then that is a huge failing and limitation of the concept. federation should not mean “get fucked if you want to build something that isn’t open season”, it should mean “build a community to your taste, but still have the ability to connect to places which aren’t your own community effortlessly”
I mean, it’s not like they’re being picky out of spite… They explained the situation and what led them to defederate.
I didn’t mean to imply that they did anything out of spite. And I’d argue that by definition they are being picky. But, I also said that’s fine. I don’t care what they do with their instance it just seems kind of opposed to the whole purpose of the federated content mindset. I dunno, maybe I just still don’t get it. Personally I don’t care about the centralized/decentralized thing. I just wanted a reddit replacement.
Regulation of user registration and defederation are key to the fediverse, not against its purpose.
The purpose of the fediverse isn’t to be a replacement for any centralised social media, it’s to be a safe alternative free of corporations and bad actors (who are isolated in their own servers). If you just wanted a Reddit 2.0 maybe a centralised alternative would have been better for you.
The purpose of the fediverse isn’t to be a replacement for any centralised social media
Isn’t the decentralization like the entire point? Your two points go hand in hand, I think.
Decentralized governance is I think the point. You, upon diving into Federation: Into the Fediverse or browsing Federation: Across the Fediverse have an opportunity to find an instance that is governed how you like. Remember how on reddit there were both complaints that admins took too long to quarantine subs like The Donald, while also complaining that power mods were preventing meaningful discussion from happening? Well here you can find the right moderation style for you! Including spinning up an instance and self moderating
I just wanted a Reddit replacement.
Reddit is centralized. The Fediverse (however you choose to access it) is decentralized.
You will never find a Reddit replacement here.
Closest thing I have so far. It’s been scratching the itch since last Monday.
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 saw this image and I was like… “Actually? Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad”
That wouldn’t be a bad idea for the moment. But images like this show that these people really don’t understand how the fediverse work. They would die of shock if they ever saw how long (way longer than Beehaws) the list of defederated servers is in the mastodon instance I’m in
What’s really funny about this image is that the implication is that Beehaw mods are trying to keep us from seeing content from other instances, when they’ve said in multiple ways that 1) if you don’t agree with the decision, you can go elsewhere, and 2) it’s about keeping trolls from spamming up Beehaw, not preventing Beehaw members from venturing outside of the instance. I don’t even know why people think Beehaw’s admin/mod team cares at all about where it’s users go beyond making sure they’re not trolls trying to infiltrate. They’re providing a free service where they’re trying to build a community, not create an Orwellian dystopia where all thought is policed. If anything, mods here have been way more tolerant of dissenting voices than I’ve seen elsewhere as long as those voices are civil and not actively promoting bigotry/harm.
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.
I wonder how much they were going to contribute to the community in the first place? lol
Pretty much that. They’re not even hard questions to answer, you could even lie. But, the day or two wait period and general approval process means you weed out a lot of the undesirables who are looking for a quick way to upset and bully people. It’s a good thing.
Will just mention that the waiting time is not intentional. We just didn’t have a deny system and that’s been messing with the queue. I sincerely hope we could pass everyone within 6 hours.
Even so, any sort of wait tends to weed out the folks who want to troll, so it’s good!
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.
I didn’t think it was too bad. Like others I wrote 3 sentences or so basically just answering the questions honestly. I was approved fairly quickly.
The funny thing is I actually got rejected (or put in the limbo) once. After making this account and answering the questions exhaustively, I tried to make another account for foss/programming purposes exclusively (I tend to do that for privacy reasons). The second time my answers were much shorter since I didn’t want to take up too much time from the admins , and I guess they weren’t too convinced, haha. But no hard feelings, I just hope my username eventually frees up and I can make the account :)
By the way, I don’t know if this is a good time/way to ask, but is it even allowed to register a second account? I tried searching if there was a rule against it, but I couldn’t find anything. If it’s not, I completely understand and will make another account in a different server :) (Although I would prefer it be here bc I wouldn’t feel as comfortable in other instances 😢)
Pinging some of the admins, I hope you’re not too busy. @alyaza@beehaw.org @Gaywallet@beehaw.org @admin@beehaw.org
Why do you want a second account
I prefer to have separate accounts for different purposes: personal / dev stuff. Someone pointed out a lemmy instance focused on programming, so maybe I’ll just make an account there too. Thanks for replying though!
There are also some bugs that may throw you into limbo as well on lemmy. Some of them seem like insanely basic oversights like how if you pick an already taken user name it will just spin indefinitely
Oh yeah, that happened to me too. It won’t even tell you the reason why. When I checked, I was actually surprised somebody else had already picked the username I wanted so early lol (Hi @styx@beehaw.org, we had the same idea haha)
Hello there!
hey, cool username!
Thanks, yours too 😊
