In conversation with a few potential Forem Admins, I have received several requests around the concept of an "Apply to Join" option for Forems.
The underlying idea would be to introduce a "gate" that prevents people from completing registration of their account. Once they are registered, they can take part in the community as normal.
Forem Admin Experience
- Enable "Apply to Join" mode
- Prospective members hit an "Application Page" when trying to register
- The "Application Page" gathers information relevant to their application
- The Forem admin should be able to set fields on this page
- Pending applications appear somewhere in the Admin area as "Pending Applications"
- The Forem admin can "accept" or "reject" individual applications
Applying User Experience
- Visit community, start registration process
- Land on "Application Page" + supply info
- On-site + Email confirmation that application was submitted
- Email update when application is accepted / rejected
- If accepted, account is now fully registered as normal
Cover image via Unsplash
Oldest comments (3)
Probably makes sense for the "acceptance" of a request to trigger the invitation flow, and that's how they come to create their full profile?
Yeah, I don't have any real insight into the proper technical implementation for this sort of feature. I wasn't sure if we'd want to create an account at the moment of application and keep them in a
pendingstate, or whether they shouldn't even be able to create an account until the "acceptance" is approved.I think this is a very important feature. Being able to screen/seed early users before they have the power to interact with the community could prove beneficial. I know over at producthunt.com they did something similar with comment permissions in the beginning. This lead to high quality comments/discussions early on which I believe played a role in setting the tone for the community.
Some Facebook Groups also employ applications for access and they work similarly to the flow you've described.