IMO, Lemmy would gain far more users if you were able to create a user account without having to be approved by a server first.
If communities want to remain invite only that’s fine. But I really, really think you guys should decouple account creation from the requirement of being approved by a server. It’s a barrier to entry that imo will prevent many users from registering.
Edit: If not global auto-approving of user account creation, I think what would be a more reasonable request is an indicator of whether a server auto-approves account creation or whether it is invite only.
I fear if there would be large influx of new users, many instances wouldn’t be able to keep up. I think currently the only way to scale an individual instance is vertically. I doubt that many of the admins are willing or able to throw much more money on it. Working across the federation with indiviual instances struggling with the load would then likely diminish the whole experience.
In other words: it might be an advantage if the growth doesn’t happen too quickly. Even though this is not directly the intention behind the registration process.