There are different opinions on Beehaw’s registration process. I kind of see how some people would find it dissuasive, specially after most of us are coming from Reddit. But I still think it’s very practical, at least for the time being.
Btw, this is only my opinion as a new user, I don’t know any of the admins/mods. Link to my original comment.
Decentralized governance is I think the point. You, upon diving into Federation: Into the Fediverse or browsing Federation: Across the Fediverse have an opportunity to find an instance that is governed how you like. Remember how on reddit there were both complaints that admins took too long to quarantine subs like The Donald, while also complaining that power mods were preventing meaningful discussion from happening? Well here you can find the right moderation style for you! Including spinning up an instance and self moderating