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.
Beehaw is trying to be a place where it's illegal to hurt people's feelings, not a general instance.
The only reason they have so many users is that they have consistent branding across all communities, which makes them seem credible to people who have no idea which instance to choose.
Have you considered that some users might want a safer place like that? Variety in the fediverse isn't hurting anybody.
it's not really variety if it's a gated community.
Well if you want to get in that gate it's not so hard. And now I have extra communities to interact with and an app makes it smooth. But if that's not for you just ignore it.