I would like to make an application process like this work for my case also, controlled solely through the Automation plugin, and ideally, as you say, be able to tweak an applicant’s group membership, profile fields, and anything else during the approval process itself.
An application and approval workflow for admins would have multiple use cases, from processing public members (or trial members, or members with limited access to free content) to more complex onboarding for private or paid or committed members.
I’m also thinking it would be useful to filter for good beta testers and starting members, which is my current struggle. I’d like a wide sweep, open option for anyone interested, but I really need to filter who will become strong initial or core members with a lot of influence.
If someone is building a support community to accompany course or coaching offerings, an initial sign-up automation could also channel those people into an appropriate cohort or coaching/support group.
So there are a lot of uses for combining automated sign-up/application with flexible admin approval.
I agree that being able to configure a single, official, free plugin, without having to pay extra, is extremely helpful for startup communities that don’t have funding or (any/many) paid memberships.
Thanks for sharing your process. Very helpful.