Close to launching our beta site

I seem to have ironed out most of the kinks so I have asked a few people to have a go on the site now. Early results seem encouraging although there is very little interaction so far.

One frustration remains: it is too complicated to get up and running on the site. You have to sign up, then wait for approval from an admin, then verify your email address. Once you have done that you are in...but you need to register for the groups you wish to join. Unfortunately this again requires you to wait for approval. There doesn't seem to be an alternative to this.

I am concerned that this long-winded process isn't smooth enough and will end up with a number of lost members.

I am hoping to launch the site in Salzburg province as a test market in the next few days but I need to identify a day when there is no World Cup game to ensure everyone's attention!