Ron, is really is caught in a no win situation. If he just lets people automatically join (as someone mentioned) then there would have to be mods on standby 24/7, waiting for the potential barrage of bullshit.
However, I think Ron takes it to the other extreme. He usually waits months to approve members. So if any legit people wanted to join, 99.9% of them end up giving up/forgetting that they even signed up.
To be fair, the odds of having a legit account registered these days is probably only around 10% anyway.