I saw that this instance had a large number of users so I thought "more users->more content->more fun". Apparently, I had to prove my value by answering 3 questions that showed my interest in their community and my value as a potential future member.
What could possibly be my value to a general purpose instance besides money? I'm a software/cloud engineer so I guess there are things I could help with, but my guess is they were expecting me to say "I can donate".
I get it, they need donations to exist, but this upfront? And to a community I don't even know? Maybe I'm imagining things and they were looking for something else?
Do all instances rely on donations? I'd like to contribute to the instances I enjoy at some point. But only if I feel at home with them, not as a prerequisite to join.
Have you considered that some users might want a safer place like that? Variety in the fediverse isn't hurting anybody.
it's not really variety if it's a gated community.
Well if you want to get in that gate it's not so hard. And now I have extra communities to interact with and an app makes it smooth. But if that's not for you just ignore it.