Comment by shuzchen
12 years ago
Not only is it invite only but your own membership can be revoked if the people you invited cause problems (they keep track of the user tree https://lobste.rs/u, so your actions could also reflect badly on the person you got an invite from). The true reason could be something else (or many factors), but I suspect this is one decision that has kept the pool of users extremely small (1.1k isn't much for a social graph).
Huh. So basically it's like the mafia. You vouch for the wrong guy you get whacked.
I can see how that might stifle discussion.
Although... temporary guest accounts with joint karma might be an interesting idea.