Yeah, it felt a lot like "you need to prove you're worthy" more than just proving you're not a bot.

Adding to what others have said, opposing viewpoints are GOOD. Well reasoned opinions should be encouraged. I don't want to end up in another curated echo chamber built by someone else. Add the tools for users to block an instance and for blocks to work better in general. Give us the tools to decide our content. Leave the curation up to the users.

Otherwise you'll just end up with everyone spinning up their own instance and building a million individual echo chambers(tho it wouldn't be bad if there were more instances lol)

Add the fact that lemmy.ml and others were/still are doing applications for sign up instead of an automated system. I applied twice for a .ml account and never got a single response, not even a denial or "your application is being processed". I have no idea if my application was ever even seen.

On the other hand, I signed up to lemmy.world and kbin.social in minutes and have been using them ever since.

No problem. I walk ~14 miles a day at work and they hold up nicely. I put some Superfeet insoles in them when I buy them. Here's a pic of the old ones with ~18 months/4000 miles on them next to the same pair brand new. The old ones are still in working condition and have no real issues other than the cosmetic wear. Just wanted to get a new pair lol

Bought mine around 2020 and they lasted maybe 9 months before holes were forming in the toe area.

Bought Keens next and haven't had any issues. Last pair I put 4000 miles on them and the rubber covering the steel toe had worn a nickel sized hole, but otherwise they were still in great shape and fully functional.

A triangle with 90° angles, yes.

But not a four sided TRIANGLE. That itself is a contradiction.

That said, don't just call people out who downvote you. No one owes you an explanation if they thought your post was bad. I've already seen it once and it was pretty childish.