These were the two factors for me. I tried beehaw first, but after submitting my application and waiting an hour or so, I still couldn't get in. Whether or not the application is a good idea overall, it's a barrier to entry. With the blackout I finally decided to be a brave boy and try to figure out the fediverse, and after overcoming that major hurdle I'm met with a literal gatekeeper. I haven't bothered to check if I ultimately got in since I have am account here now.

So then I'm right back to the drawing board doing searches figuring out which other servers are stable, have decent policies, aren't run by sketchy folks, etc. It was a lot, but this servers reputation having run a mastodon server is what got me to come here.

I think a lot of people are like me and will get curious about lemmy and want to dive in one afternoon to see what it's about. They don't want to spend an afternoon researching like their setting up a smart home ecosystem. Then to be met with gatekeeping, your going to lose people. Maybe that's fine in the grand scheme of things.

Oh for sure

I agree, having to spend a minute to write something is good, my server also does it.

And it really doesn't have to be an essay. I got approved with like 8 words.