>The first thing was the login-wall. Gleason claims to be after mass-adoption but nobody creates an account just to find out what's going on: they need a reason to sign up.

As Aspergtame mentioned, that's been fixed.

>Last time I saw him discuss this, he said "Oh, you just put /timelines/fediverse at the end of the URL" but nobody's gonna know to do that and even if you make it a link, that's a click.

I'm sure there are better options to view/ filter your own timeline, but this very much site aesthetics.

I think the bigger issue with fedi is not with soapbox at all, it's the nature of the Fediverse and exploring it.
People are not sure what instances exists, what they are about, and don't want to memorize/ make 10 different accounts.

I think the solution to this is to make a robust fedi management app that not only provide server suggestions, but ease of access for about pages, server blocks, account management and notification alerts.
It was something I was slowly working on but admittedly is on the back burner due to other projects.