Closed registration because it's what the instance can handle : Fine and part of the fediverse.
Moderated registration : How do you define who can join ? It's fine and even intended to have small instances for the admin and their friends, but if you go bigger, how do you deal with a real newcomer, not someone who's been on slashdot/reddit/mastodon for decades and just have to send a couple of DM to get an invite ?

[–] Potato@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wonder if we'll get to something resembling the system used by private BitTorrent trackers. Invites and open registration periods where interviews or "proofs" of being a good internet user are required.

[–] Whooping_Seal@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How exactly do those BitTorrent trackers ‘prove’ that someone is a good internet user? It seems like it would be quite an onerous task.

[–] Potato@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well, in their case they are looking for proof that the applicant is a responsible torrenter. Typically what is accepted is screenshots showing one's private user page at other reputable private torrent sites showing upload-to-download ratio, whether they had any warnings etc. The major sites have highly experienced mod teams with accounts at a huge range of sites and can often cross reference the information in the screenshots if they care enough to.