Alright so I did a pros and cons thing last time and… well, didn't go over great, so i'm just gonna do a lil' writeup instead:
The current method we have was made in response to a repeat, insistent troll, and was made to be a temporary measure. It makes life harder on the end user, but due to how bad the situation was at the time and how the users don't have to do that much extra work, it was seen as a fine stopgap solution. In my opinion though, this isn't good enough to be permanent, as there's ways to ease both staff's and the user's lives.
On the user side it's pretty simple - they have to make a kind of awkward hoop jump (joining the chats just to ask for an invite), and most seem to throw somewhat personal info (their age) out there into the chat, which can't be good. If we can make it more straightforward on their end and more private, the better.
On the staff side - we have an odd, segmented workflow. We have people looking in chat for people asking for invites, we check the request follows the rules, pass it onto a page on 05command (which can run into edit issues), at which point an admin (typically Zyn) looks over the list and adds everyone there using the invite panel. This system requires monitoring chat for requests and two different people operating, which can probably be streamlined.
The simplest solution offered so far which seems to keep all the benefits of the current system while axing most issues I outlined is using the sandbox's application system rather than #site17. It's more private since it's directly in the application box and no other users can see it, it's on the same page the user is already on so no odd hoop-jumping, doesn't require us to monitor chat for this specific request, and makes it so the person adding them and the one pruning are the same.
The one issue mentioned is that it would increase the workload of the (currently, singular) admin running the invites, to which I say - well, let us help. Adding more moderators to the sandbox as admins could help with the application list, assuming other admins aren't doing the job right now.
I feel this is the best, most straightforward solution presented so far.
TL;DR: Why aren't we making users apply in the applying box it's literally what it's made for