I’m a member of some other groups elsewhere. One forum, we started with about 40 people…and then folks were actually invited to join. That did limit members but also eliminated the random you know what from joining.
Another group from my HS…of course this is a closed group…has a series of questions that one has to answer to join. It’s just to prove that you really do come from our HS. It’s amazing to me how many folks just want to spam these kids of sites. That’s why these questions were created for membership.
Anyone here remember Carolyn? She had a great college site…a sort of spin off similar to this one. Lots of forums, with varying topics. IIRC, she did most of the moderation…but did have some trusted folks who helped out.