Approve new members
Ask people a few questions when they join a community for free, approve or decline each request by hand, and see what the person and your team get by e-mail, on the web and in the mobile app.
A free community is open to anyone who signs up. With join approval you decide who gets in: people answer your questions when they join, wait for your decision, and see the community only after you approve them. Approval covers free joins only. People who pay for the community, and people you add yourself with Add member or Import, get in right away.
Set up the questions and approval
Open the Joining tab
In the community editor open Settings and the Joining tab
(/communities/<productId>/editor/settings/joining). Questions and approval work for the free
join of a public community. If the community is not public, the tab says so: switch on Public
community in the Access & features tab first (Public
community).
Add join questions
Under Join questions click Add question and type it, for example "Why do you want to join?". You can add up to 3 questions. Tick Required next to a question the person must answer; Remove question deletes it. Questions work without approval too: the answers are then shown on the member's card in Members list, under Answers to the join questions, and only the community team sees them.
Turn on manual approval
Switch on I approve new members by hand and click Save. From now on a new person sees "Your request is waiting for approval" after answering the questions and has no access to anything until you approve them. Channels visible to guests stay visible to anyone with the link.
When a free product or bundle of yours includes this community, the tab lists it under These free products include this community. A person who signs up for that product gets the rest of it right away, and their request to join this community lands in your request list; they answer the questions on the community page. Paid products don't wait for approval: the payment is enough.
Approve or decline requests
Open the requests
In the editor open Members list. While approval is on, the screen has two tabs: Members
list and Join requests (N), where N is the number of people waiting. The link in the team
e-mail and the bell item opens this tab directly
(/communities/<productId>/editor/members?tab=join-requests).
Read the request
Each row shows the Person (name and e-mail), their Answers, the AI hint, the date under Requested and the status. The AI hint reads the answers, the e-mail domain and the account and says Looks like a real person, Hard to tell or Looks like spam. It is a hint: you decide. It uses your AI credits, and when a person keeps changing their answers it stops scoring them and shows AI hint limit used up.
Decide
Click Approve or Decline on a row, or tick several rows and use Approve selected (N) or Decline selected (N). Declining asks "Decline this request?" first. The switch above the list moves between Waiting and Declined: a declined person can still be approved later from the Declined view.
The requests are visible to the owner and to admins who manage members. If you switch approval off later, new people join right away, and the requests already waiting stay in the list until you handle them, with a Joining settings link above them.
What each side gets
| Who | When | What arrives |
|---|---|---|
| The owner and admins | A new request comes in | A bell item "[name] asks to join “[community]”." and an e-mail "🙋 New request to join [community]", at most one a day, with a link to the request list. |
| The person | You approve the request | An e-mail "Your request to join [community] was accepted" with a login link, and the community's welcome message, just like a normal join. |
| The person | You decline the request | A short, neutral e-mail "Your request to join [community]" with no reason given. The person gets no access. |
What the person sees
| Step | On the web | In the mobile app |
|---|---|---|
| Joining | The join window asks your questions (a required one must be filled in) with the note "The creator approves new members by hand. After you send the request you will wait for approval, and we will let you know by email." The button reads Send a request to join. | The app shows the state of the request once it is sent. |
| Waiting | Instead of the community, a screen Your request is waiting for approval with Check again, Contact the creator (when a contact e-mail is available) and Log out. Nothing of the community's content is shown. | When the person has nothing else to open in the app: Your request is waiting for approval with Check again. The community shows up once approved. |
| Joined through a free product | Ask to join with Send a join request, or the questions with Send answers when the request is already open. | The same waiting state once the request is open. |
| Approved | The e-mail's login link opens the whole community. | The community appears in the app. |
| Declined | We can't add you to the community right now: "Thank you for your interest in [community]. Your request was not accepted this time." | The same message. |
Good to know
You can also ask the agent: "Who is waiting to join my community?" or "Approve Anna's request". It lists the requests with their answers and the AI hint, and asks you to confirm before it approves or declines anyone.
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