How about during the signup process(step) the user gets instance allocated randomly?
The biggest F U you get while signing up on lemmy is choosing a instance and I know this process acts as a filter in itself, clearing the randoms and normies.
But if lemmy instance is assigned randomly, it is like hitting two birds with one stone. it solves discouragement you get when signing up but also distributes the load on different servers. the only downside I see with this is if the instance is closed.
Edit: I know there are a lot of variables and dependencies that I didn't think of earlier. But I just wanted to imagine a welcome page of lemmy with simple, and as less steps as possible in the sign up process.
Yeah, the biggest problem with this approach is different moderation philosophies. You would have to set up a vetted set of approved non-problematic instances. I've read several accounts of people who tried out fedi and left soon after, and nothing sours the newcomer experience more than unknowingly joining an instance with a toxic community/moderators
You would have to set up a vetted set of approved non-problematic instances.
No instance will be perfect, but I think lemm.ee, lemmy.zip, and lemmy.sdf.org could be good candidates for generic instances to recommend. All in the top 20 instances, so they are decently well federated, but not centralizing to the largest instance (LemmyWorld).