Let me just start by acknowledging that this is a bit counter-intuitive, and I think that Fediverse communities with open registration are also really important. But today I’m writing to advocate for the creation of more “closed-off” Fediverse communities that make use of invite-only registration (as well as the tools needed to allow for that).

Alright but… why?

You might be thinking, “we want people to join the Fediverse, don’t we? How does having more closed-off servers where people need to be invited to join help us do that?”

While there are some remaining technical and convenience issues, most of us who want the Fediverse to thrive and grow will be the first to admit that one of the biggest hurdles is onboarding–getting people to simply pick a server, register and subscribe to communities.

Personally I think that picking a server really shouldn’t be any harder than picking a pair of socks to wear, but ultimately I think a big part of the problem is that we are offering new users a big list of options that they don’t yet understand or care about, then asking them to arbitrarily pick one.

How is a new user supposed to know which server to join (or which ones to avoid) if they don’t know anything about how the fediverse works?

Sure they could put in the time and effort to do some research, register for a bunch of different servers to get a feel for them, or maybe pick one arbitrarily. But many potential newcomers aren’t going to do that. Instead, they’re more likely going to just decide that the Fediverse is “too complicated” and return to their safe, centralized, familiar and established platforms, run by corporations and oligarchs.

Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket

Having thought about this (a little bit too much, probably), I think one roundabout way to address this problem is somewhat counter-intuitive: the creation of more closed-off servers, in which users are occasionally given sharable invite codes to bring other new users into the fold.

Let me break it down…

By giving someone an invite code to a closed-registration fediverse community you are:

• Instantly solving the server choice paralysis problem, by simply making the choice for them.
• Giving people something that they are more likely to perceive as being valuable, like Willy Wonka’s “golden ticket”, they now feel that they are part of an exclusive club.
• Creating the possibility of exponential viral growth, as every existing user has the means to invite a number of other users. This also means that the average community member may take a more active role in growing their community, since if they want more people on their server the best way to do that is by giving out codes.

Throwing invite codes around drives a lot of hype, and it gets people’s foot in the door without asking them to make an arbitrary decision about technologies and communities that they don’t understand. Keep in mind, this is no small part of how Bluesky became popular, by having an extended invite-only beta period during which people could be found begging for invite codes else on the internet.

Basically, I think closed-off servers with viral invitation systems are potentially a powerful tool to help grow the Fediverse, and so it’s something that Fediverse software should support.

What do you all think?