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.
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 actually really liked it as an exercise in reflection.
I probably wrote too much in mine, a good full paragraph for each. They really just need to create the slightest barrier to entry to make moderating 10x easier.
They need to add a word limit though, I think I went a bit overboard lol
I’ve been through a bit of an emotionally exhausting week with some personal things…
I suspect some of that might have come through on my mini essay … uh… sorry to whoever had to read it?
But hey I’m here so…
Why do you want to join Beehaw
I just want to feel something. Even the pain of a thousand Cowbee stings. Anything. Let me in. Hurt me.
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.
yeah I just wrote three bulletpoints
- unhappy with reddit’s recent decisions
- was recommended as an alternative on a number of subreddits I browse
- social values align similarly with my own
Maybe it was because I joined during the influx but I got away with two lazy sentences. Something like, “reddits on strike and I ain’t a scab. I’ll post about geeky programming stuff.” I mean, it really does take the bare minimum
To me, that first sentence was enough. jk
I wrote a frikkin’ essay. I wish I’d saved a copy because I was sure they were going to read it and file it under “whackadoodle: do not admit.”
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 :)
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 @[email protected], we had the same idea haha)
Accounts are created on registration so while you may not have been approved it’s possible that is your account.
This it not the case, haha. I checked and they had made the account before me and had some posts/comments. So we just had the same idea, I guess
Hello there!
hey, cool username!
Thanks, yours too 😊
deleted by creator
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. @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]
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!
If you don’t already know about programming.dev or discuss.online, you may want to consider them for your second account.
Thanks! I didn’t know about them. And genuinely curious, do these instances have good moderation/community similar to here on Beehaw?
You mentioned wanting a programming centric account, so programming.dev makes sense. They don’t allow open creation of communities. They must be requested, they must be tech related (don’t know if this might change). They seem to want to keep the discussions on tech and programming.
discuss.online’s admin is working on creating some moderation tools for Lemmy admins. I’ve been chatting with him on the discuss.online Matrix server. He seems like someone that will build a good community.
Their moderation ethos are not hashed out like Beehaw, but they have both started up this month and I like the vibes so far.
If those don’t work out, I’m also starting up an instance that will be up and running soon at grok.town with an ethos that largely overlaps with Beehaw. But at the moment I only have a matrix space set up at https://matrix.to/#/#groktown:matrix.org
Sorry for the late reply, I’ve been a bit busy. But I’ll definitely have a look at them when I get some time. programming.dev seems like it would fit. And ping me when you start your instance and I’ll check it out as well 👍 thanks
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”
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
Honestly. Zero self-awareness.
I saw this image and I was like… “Actually? Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad”
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.
That wouldn’t be a bad idea for the time being. 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
I hope they really don’t think we can’t just type the address of other instances on our browsers and see the content… if we choose to, that is.
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.
Their point was “using the word ‘minorities’ means that you have a bias political agenda.”
So my point still stands. And 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.
I answered honestly, and I think it was probably about five sentences. I’m definitely not a robot or a bully, and they still denied me. maybe it’s because I brought up developing a sports community.
no there’s a sports community here, it might be that users aren’t allowed to create new communities though
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!
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.
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!
Literally. And maybe once things settle in the future, and better mod tools become available, we may all reunite. But that will be up to the admins to decide ultimately
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.
Agree! I love Beehaw’s vibe and I follow a fair number of Beehaw’s magazines, but I decided on kbin.social to start. But honestly? If I end up spinning up an instance, I’ll probably limit registrations too. There’s space for all sorts of admin / community philosophies here in the fediverse!
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 don’t get what all the fuss is about. I told them I don’t like Nazis and was approved within minutes. It was not a complicated process.
I come from a different point-of-view that I support the question portion, but I did find it hindered me slightly. Only because of my own anxiety, not because it’s a bad idea.
I mostly wanted to reply how the handling of my application was really personable, in case anyone else is lurking and finds it intimidating, like I did for a week or two. It’s not a college thesis and I imagine those running beehaw want more people to make the place more bustling.
I think the little question bit being there will lead to a better environment overall. I’m outing myself, but back in my roleplay forum days the ones with a bit of an application process had better quality engagement. Ymmv, of course.
Honestly, I was more frustrated with the spinner of doom that kept me from actually submitting my registration for a few days. That meant re-writing my response to that application question until I decided to just save it in notepad until I was able to get a registration form actually submitted.
The “interview” process itself makes total sense, and I’m happy to have even something so simple that helps keep some of the low-effort riff-raff out.
Yeah, happened to me too lol. But that’s mostly the software/server’s fault rather than Beehaw’s admins. I hope they improve that in the future, specially for new non-technical users.
Same happened to me. It’s mainly caused by a bug in Lemmy itself, so I’m sure this issue will get fixed at some point. It might definitely scare people off the fediverse.
I completely agree with the three questions for screening. It only took me a few minutes to answer after reading the guidelines. It looks like people are making a bigger fuzz out of this than it really is.
I managed to submit mine, but then I tried to log in later and got the spinning wheel. I thought that was some sort of time-out, so I tried a few more times, then gave up. It wasn’t until later I was on a different server and people were talking about that spinning wheel and realized it prpbably just meant they hadnt gotten to approving me yet. I waited a few days and was let in.
I didn’t put my email address in, though, because it was “optional”, and then afterwards realized that was dumb, because they have no way of telling me I was approved. Oh well.
I don’t see the problem with having a requirement that someone who wants to join a discussion forum actually be able to write a few coherent sentences first.
The process to ask simple questions like these is not a barrier for users looking for honest conversation.
That is one of the facts I did choose Beehaw, because it shows the will for maintain a non-toxic community.
Same. The fact that there’s a bit of reading to do and a few screening questions was a selling point for me personally.
Hot take: its a bigger impact on those with anxiety disorders or other tendencies to rewrite things a million times when they are “important”. I find it easy to post online because its cheap, but writing my beehaw paragraph definitely stirred up some “eeeek, I gotta say this right!!!” fears in me.
As a fellow comrade of anxiety, I personally didn’t find it too daunting.
I just wrote something like “seems like our community/social values align! I’d like to contribute to discussions and share my knowledge, if that’s the case” and got approval within hours.
Then again, doing anything with anxiety can be exhausting. In this case, I think my desperation for something to replace my lost support communities won out over my anxiety.
I think it may have taken me a bit longer to write than most people bc English is not my first language and I tend to double and triple-check everything. But I think it was worth it, and it’s for the greater good - lessening the work of the admins
Hi I definitely didn’t take 20 minutes to write and incessantly edit 3-4 sentences.
Yeah, I definitely did feel like it was an “interview” and if I answered wrong I wouldn’t get in. I still get the spinning wheel, but I’ll check back tomorrow. I’ve read in a few places now that a lot of accounts have been approved but are essentially in a queue. It should hopefully be caught up soon.
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.
If I reply with “Absolutely this!” I guess it would be a low effort, but I can’t honestly think of anything to add to your great reply!
I went through this same journey, word for word, in my head. Thank you for articulating it!
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.
In my experience, a community with even the most basic and rudimentary filter to join has consistently higher quality people in the community. Kinder, more active, and better posts. A bigger community does NOT mean a better one, often the inverse has been true ime but blah blah analogies aren’t evidence.
I like that the mods are prioritizing healthy growth over just growth. It’s easy to look at number go up and get excited, then to open the flood gates. And whenever a community does that, a bunch of people whom are not wholly interested in the point of the community swoop in and push out the invested crowd.
The only downside would be wanting to answer something more personal, but making a throwaway account isn’t exactly easy with this system. That’s, really, the only downside I can immediately point to.
It’s good to ask users to write a bit about their thoughts to a) make it a bit harder to register bot armies, b) make users read the rules, and c) disincentivize unfriendly users from registering. Just the delay in registration is probably enough to make the majority of unwanted accounts seek out some other place.
The registration said registrations would usually be approved within day. Mine took a few dsys, which is very understandable, but unless I’m the exception the estimated time could be set to a bit longer to give mods time to approve people.
I think registration is a good litmus test for Beehaw overall. We want and encourage thoughtful comments. If someone finds the registration process too much to deal with, then Beehaw isn’t right for them anyway.
