Screening New Members Using the Pending Subscription Notice
NOTE: This option is only available to Restricted groups. See Admin>Settings>Spam Control.
The Pending Subscription Notice is one of the group Member Notices (see /static/help#membernotices).?
It is sent automatically to anyone who applies for membership in a restricted group.
You?cannot?use this notice to those you invite or direct add.*
The notice marked "active" is the one sent; if no notice is active, none is sent.
Some groups use this notice to ask a series of questions of applicants in support of their application; responses will go to the group owner address and be recorded in the member¡¯s page under "+owner messages."
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Screenshot shows active Pending Subscription notice in Admin, Settings, Member Notices button.
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- If the applicant group member's email address is not already a Groups.io account, it will receive a message from Groups.io asking them to confirm they have applied. They must confirm that the applicant's email can receive Groups.io messages is required.?
- The group owner / moderator(s) receive an email about the request to join.
The screenshot shows the email that the owner receives about the request.
- The "Pending Subscription Notice" (to the requester) AND the "Subscription Approval Needed" (to the Owner/Moderator(s)) messages are sent out automatically at the same time, if or when the Groups.io account is confirmed.
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The screenshot shows the email the potential member (applicant) gets, based on the Pending Subscription notice that the group owner has devised. The recipient must reply to the email with the information.
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- Now the semi-automated part for the owner is over. ?
- The owner receives the email in their own email account and has to assess whether or not to accept the member.?
- The message also goes into Activity in Admin.
- You can click on the subject line to open and read it here.
- If the member is acceptable, the owner / moderator must choose from the dropdown menu.
The screenshot shows the options.
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- If they don't reply: you can resend if they don't reply within a reasonable time.
- To resend the "Pending Subscription Message" (if you get no response):
- Check the box at the left end of that Pending Member's row
- Select "Resend Pending Membership Notice" in the drop-down "Actions" menu
- Click "Yes" in the "Verify Action" dialog window.
- If they don't reply to the second probe either or don't meet your criteria, reject their request.
- What if they try to login in before you approve them? It is confusing because the member shows the potential member in the Admin, Members list (with some NuM, etc.) ?But if the unapproved member tries to login, they get this message:
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- And if you don't approve the person, they disappear from your Members list.
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Note about management:
The "Pending Subscription Message" will not delay the "Subscription Approval Needed" notice, however an Owner/Moderator can put the 14 day clock on hold by 'Claiming' the application.
Click on "View Pending Member" in the "Subscription Approval Needed" notice email,
or go to the group's website Admin > Members
Select "Pending Members" (in the drop-down Members menu) if not already shown
Click on the row (not the check box) of the Pending Member
Click on "Claim Sub" at bottom of the page
The words "Claimed by <your name>" will appear in a blue box to the right of the applicant's email address
Now the 14 day clock has been stopped and only you can approve this Subscription by email.
NOTE: All Owners and any Moderator (with appropriate privileges) can still approve this Subscription at anytime at the website.
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This allows you to wait until you get a reply to the "Pending Subscription Message".
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*The logic here is that you have previously vetted them in some other fashion and?want?them to join, otherwise you wouldn't have invited them. If you need to gather information from every subscriber no matter how they join, you'll have to find some other way to do it.
The official Groups.io user documentation is in the Groups.io Help Center.