Hear me out.
SomethingAwful forums are notoriously “human,” because they charge $10 for a user account. They don’t have problems with spam/scam/shenanigans that exist on platforms where accounts are free.
Fediverse instances are not currently monetizable - and they should stay that way. But there are still costs to operating one, especially if it’s very popular.
Instance admins charging a minimal fee to register a user account would address both of those concerns, especially the former, especially in light of how the Nicole thing has taken a horribly dark turn.
I 100% agree with this.
Something Awful’s system, where it’s just a one-time fee instead of even a “minimal” monthly subscription, seems like a nice additional option. Although, then you’re taking kind of a leap of faith that the instance is going to stay around… but yes, running an instance is work, it’s not just a favor that the users do to the instance operators by joining up with it and making it popular.