A simple Tag/Banner/Indicator for whether a given Lemmy server has open registration or is invite only

[jazir555]

Is your proposal related to a problem?

Currently, there is no indication of whether a server is invite only or if they are open to registration with no approval.

Describe the solution you'd like

I do realize that all current Lemmy instances are invite only, but I suspect that will change soon and someone will create a server with open registration.

I propose adding a simple text tag, probably surrounded in a colored rounded box of some sort to indicate whether a server has open registration or is invite only. Nothing complex, just something to the effect of "Open Registration" or "Invite Only".

Describe alternatives you've considered

1. A global Lemmy server that's only function is to authenticate user accounts to register them on the Lemmy network and is completely and totally immutable beyond that functionality. After discussing with other users on lemmy.ml, they have collectively rejected this idea, and after hearing them out, I am now in agreement with them that this would be a bad idea as it requires a centralized registry which defeats the purpose of Lemmy's decentralized nature.

If the devs here have some variation of such an idea that does not induce a central point of failure, I am more than open to it, and I think it is possible users could be convinced to support such an idea. The implementation of such an idea may be tricky if it's even viable at all, so I defer to the developers judgement on this issue.

2. Add Automod functionality - This may actually improve the confidence of Lemmy server admins to the point where many of them would be willing to make the decision to allow open registration. One major issue expressed in the thread that I opened was that there is significant concern about the potential for spam comments and spam accounts, and I think Reddit's solution of an automod is most applicable here. I agree with the commenters on the thread, that will be a problem that will invariably occur, as it remains an issue on any online platform with open registration.

Automod in my eyes could be functionally identical to reddit and that would satisfy the spam reduction requirement in my opinion.

3. Ban list for usernames at the server level - Essentially there could be a ban list of certain terms in usernames, as well as in the posts users are allowed to make on the server, or specific community on the server. Users expressed concern about people creating accounts that contain hate speech words in their username, which is absolutely valid and I think should be addressed as well.

[Nutomic]

Contributions welcome ;)

[dessalines]

Stale, but I can re-open if anyone wants to work on this.

[Nutomic]

No need to close this, it would still be nice to have.

[dessalines]

Okay I've added this to the details modal. I'm not sure I want to highlight this in a more filterable / visible way, because RequireApplications should be the default for all servers, and highlighting open instances could likely lead to bot abuse.