well, it takes around 20 minutes to get an invite, so hardly a problem if you prefer only tech articles

How exactly does it take 20 minutes to get an invite? I have not tried it, but I can't see how that would be easy.

I got mine in about that time, joined their IRC and asked for an invite, someone DM'd me, asked me a couple of questions and sent me the invite. This was about 7 years ago when there as a lot less people, so I imagine it should be easier now.

No idea. Read only is good enough.