# Adding new users vs inviting them
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/adding-new-users-vs-inviting-them/39422
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [February 11, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/adding-new-users-vs-inviting-them/39422 "2016-02-11T20:08:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bbendick](https://meta.discourse.org/u/bbendick)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/adding-new-users-vs-inviting-them/39422/1 "2016-02-11T20:08:47Z")
We are trying to use Discourse in more of an intranet setting, and one that uses group based categories and membership. The “catch-22” of needing a user to signup, then adding them to the group, is a bit of a hassle for both end users and admins. Complicating that is that we are using oAuth2 with local accounts disabled, so invitations aren’t even an option.
I thought I’d throw the question out here first to see if there’s any functionality I’m missing, or even more of a “conceptual” reason why it might be a bad idea. Using the API is the most commonly suggested route, and we can certainly do that. But I wonder if writing a “add user” plugin would be a better contribution to the community.
Feedback appreciated!
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### Author:  [@downey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/downey)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2016, 8:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/adding-new-users-vs-inviting-them/39422/2 "2016-02-11T20:33:17Z")
> [@bbendick](#):
>
> I thought I’d throw the question out here
I started a reply, then second guessed myself because I wasn’t 100% sure of the question you were throwing out. 🙂
Are you more worried about synchronizing users, groups, or something else?
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### Author:  [@bbendick](https://meta.discourse.org/u/bbendick)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2016, 8:43pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/adding-new-users-vs-inviting-them/39422/3 "2016-02-11T20:43:34Z")
I don’t really want to synchronize users; we have 50,000+ of them.
Simply put the use case is:
- Steve wants a private category that includes 5 people
Right now the workflow is:
- Steve creates a group with 1 - 5 members, depending on who has already logged into discourse
- Steve creates a category with access to that group
- Steve emails the people, says “Please log in”
- Steve checks discourse every day, needs to add people to the group as they show up
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/adding-new-users-vs-inviting-them/39422/4 "2016-02-11T20:48:34Z")
Via the api you could create staged users and add them to the groups