A gauntlet delivers highly motivated users, but not a lot of them.

A gauntlet is an onboarding flow that is high friction.

Only the most motivated users make it through the gauntlet.

Some gauntlets are intentional (e.g. an early, rough open source project).

Some are unintentional.

If the gauntlet is too bruising, it possibly delivers zero users.

But you can tune down the severity of the gauntlet until you're left with a dribble, and then tune it up or down from there.