We have moved to approval-required registration in response to coordinated bot attacks affecting the fediverse. This protects our users, but the platform forces a binary choice: open registration that enables spam and harassment, or approval queues that lose legitimate users to friction.
The fediverse deserves better. There is an open proposal for improved registration options that would benefit instances across the network: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/36747
If your instance has faced similar challenges, or if you believe better moderation tools would strengthen the fediverse, please engage with this proposal. This affects all of us.
Registration will reopen when it's safe to do so. The fediverse should not be an exclusive place. This is a temporary measure, taken as a last resort to protect not just our users, but to minimize the impact these attacks have on the wider network.