Does the "must approve users" option really result in revoke access of previous members?

i want to be sure if one enable this option, would it break the access of previous members or not?

the image suggests so, and i've seen discussion [here](https://meta.discourse.org/t/allowing-members-to-invite-in-a-must-approve-users-forum/29371/4) and [here](https://meta.discourse.org/t/request-invite-on-invite-only-discourse/14208/4) which makes me unsure about the result of this option.

Interesting… I wonder, without must approve users enabled, do you see the approved status in a user’s admin page:

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nope, something like this:

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Without testing, I’d guess that when you enable “must approve users”, you’ll need to go approve everyone with the button which shows up.

No you do not need to do this. However switching this on later in the life of a site leaves earlier users in an indeterminate state – were they approved to access your site, or not?

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somehow, i missed this answer. thanks for the answer.

just to be sure; this means, if in our live forum i activate the “must approve users”; it does not delete previous user’s access to our site (previous sign ups). is it correct?

what will happen to those users then?

in our invite-only forum, we need a request an invitation button. and i guess this option can do the job. is it correct?

The old users will have an indeterminate approval state. They can still get in, but they will “look” unapproved to you. If you approve them, they will all get a redundant email.

It is generally a bad idea to change this setting during the life of a site.

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thanks for the information :slight_smile: ,

and sure we’ll look for another way.

Apologies for the superman necro but didn’t see anything more recent.

Has this behavior changed since last comment and does anyone know how this affects accounts that were active, and then deactivated before the big revocation button is pushed?