So, to start with, this is about adding a link into the PM that gets sent to the group owner when someone requests group membership, right? The link should lead to the respective group’s page (groups/<groupname>), open the “add members” modal and ideally also already add the new users username into the modal so that the group owner only needs to press “+ Add”.
The last bits seems to be the difficult part:
is there a URL to navigate to the modal or would it have to be implemented as well?
even if I can open the modal with a URL, I suppose that there is currently no way of adding a username to that URL, right?
We’ve been handling quite a few group membership requests recently, and the current workflow has been causing us a bit of pain. I’ve got an idea to markedly improve it, which could (hopefully) be quite easy to implement.
Current Workflow
User hits the button
The user is placed in a queue accessed via /g/group-name/requestsand a PM is generated with this text:
Membership Request for @group-name
xxxxxx text from the user (uses template in group settings)
This is sent to the group owners who have recently been active (not sure of how this is calculated)
Group owners see the PM
this includes a link to handle membership request above the message text
(links to /g/group-name/requests?filter=username)
One of the group owners deals with the request
A new PM is generated
You’ve been accepted into @group-name (or rejected if that is the case)
Your request to enter @fci-members has been accepted and you are now a member.
This is sent to the user, from the group owner (just the one who dealt with the request)
Problems with current workfow
The other group owners can’t tell if the request has been dealt with easily
they need to click through to /g/group-name/requests?filter=username
if it has been dealt with, you get “There are no membership requests for this group.”
there is no indication of whether they have been accepted or rejected
to discover this, they must visit the user’s profile and dig around (or search the group)
The owner who approves / rejects the user can’t easily add to / modify the generated PM
it gets put in their sent box (out of sight, out of mind)
this is a missed opportunity for a positive interaction between owners and the new member
(minor issue) There are two PM topics (there only needs to be one)
Suggested Change
You can probably guess this already!
Make the second PM instead be a reply to the first PM, rather than a whole new message.
This would fix all 3 of the problems nicely, closing the communication loop, giving good visibility to all group owners, minimising unnecessary notifications, and promoting positive community interactions.
We are having a similar issue: group owners contact me to understand why they get to the request page and find it empty (since someone else accepted the request first).
I believe Nathan’s solution would be a good one. It doesn’t change the workflow so much for the users and effectively removes the confusion.
In the meantime, I advise the group leads to leave a trace: like the message so the other community owner could see it, or leave a short welcome message.
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