Users reported losing the ability to request membership to a key group that controls forum access, with the ‘Submit request’ button appearing greyed out. JoeD initially noted the issue and tested it with TL0 and TL1 users, confirming it affected all. JammyDodger pointed to a recent bug report on Meta Discourse (group-membership-requests-seems-to-be-broken/280218), which included a workaround that JoeD confirmed worked. Heliosurge asked about the Discourse version and suggested using a custom code snippet in category settings to add an Apply link, though noted uncertainty about its availability on the Stable Branch. Moin clarified that the bug was already fixed in newer versions, explaining why it worked for some. JoeD revealed he was running 3.2.0.beta2-dev and still needed the workaround. Moin advised checking the exact commit version (ebe68e15fc) via the admin dashboard and referenced a guide on identifying versions. JoeD noted no automatic upgrade prompt appeared, though the upgrade page showed availability. pfaffman reminded users that upgrades are almost always available and can be manually triggered. JoeD concluded by acknowledging a better understanding of Discourse’s release process.
At some point in the past month or so, users lost the ability to request membership of a key group that we use to gate access to the majority of the forum and I’m unsure why.
I’ve searched on the topic and only see old mentions of it, mostly in 2017 when the request mechanism was changing, but nothing in 2023.
You need to take a closer look at which version you are on. As long as there is no new beta release, the version name will not change. So, while 3.2.0.beta2 is in development, your version will continue to show as 3.2.0.beta2-dev. There are new commits every day, for example, the fix from yesterday.
You can find the exact version on your admin dashboard. Also, consider having a look at Finding what version of Discourse you're using. It provides a helpful explanation about the exact GitHub commit.