Point taken, and it seems to be a common thread. We need to think about how to do this better.
The reason we care about registrations is because we look at it as a community not a marketplace for content.
Building a bad community, not setting precedent, training up people and solidifying a culture are pretty lethal to your stated goal.
Once you are open to all, your constant battle will always be:
1) Not let the Signal to Noise ratio degenerate
2) Be able to split the Signal down into sub categories for people to process, as opposed to a torrent which then leads to arbitrary discarding of significant data.
You bring two very important points. I agree that creating the right community and the right precedent is Key, but I don't think you need to be closed in order to achieve this. On the contrary, I think one needs to build a system that cana achieve that And be open. From our point a view, is actually an imperative: we Must be able to do it. We simply don't like close, invite only systems. The reasons probably will fit better in another thread.
With regards to managing signal to noise: 100% agree. Figuring out how to slice and dice the content so that you see what matters to You is our number one "tactical" objective. It is actually a hard problem, but one that gets easier as you come to understand the content being created and once you can benefit from enough liquidity to slice and dice at will.
Building a bad community, not setting precedent, training up people and solidifying a culture are pretty lethal to your stated goal.
Once you are open to all, your constant battle will always be:
1) Not let the Signal to Noise ratio degenerate 2) Be able to split the Signal down into sub categories for people to process, as opposed to a torrent which then leads to arbitrary discarding of significant data.