I saw that this instance had a large number of users so I thought “more users->more content->more fun”. Apparently, I had to prove my value by answering 3 questions that showed my interest in their community and my value as a potential future member.
What could possibly be my value to a general purpose instance besides money? I’m a software/cloud engineer so I guess there are things I could help with, but my guess is they were expecting me to say “I can donate”.
I get it, they need donations to exist, but this upfront? And to a community I don’t even know? Maybe I’m imagining things and they were looking for something else?
Do all instances rely on donations? I’d like to contribute to the instances I enjoy at some point. But only if I feel at home with them, not as a prerequisite to join.
I’m not angry at them or trying to hurt them with this post. I was already told 100 times that I’m wrong, which is fine.
I was literally asking if this is the case because for me it was the only rational explanation. I can’t imagine someone reading these answers for every single new user that joins, knowing people would gladly lie or bots would just use GPT. So I thought there was more to it than a real ethical filter. It’s a very naive filter, which is cute.
Imagine going to a amusement park ride and instead of using height measuring tool they ask you what’s your height.
Eh its more like you showed up at someone’s block party and they don’t have all the bells and whistles of a nightclub, because they don’t expect as many people to even know they exist and they aren’t charging a entrance fee