[picafrost]

The communities centered around links and comments that I get the most value out of are those that are gently strict about the discourse that occurs on them. They are well curated by moderators. But importantly, still open to all to participate in.

That takes a lot of effort, and the right curators, to do well. Invite only websites seem like a poor replacement for this. Are there examples of invite-only websites that reach the quality of HN at its best?

Maybe by definition they are harder to point to.

[shortrounddev2]

I'm willing to bet invite-only is not a substitution for moderation (since some of the worst members of a site are often its most frequent posters), but a sort of reputation system to prevent bots from joining. I remember demonoid did the same thing back in the day

[vdddv]

https://lobste.rs/ is invite only and HN level quality IMO

[xandrius]

Got mass banned for stating that a misunderstood comment was not to be seen in its negative light.

No thanks.

[AlexeyBelov]

Link?