Give an option to stop the bulk user invite process on warning (and make that the default option)

AI-generated summary

jericson reports an issue with the bulk user invite process in Discourse, where invalid group names (with leading spaces) caused 10 invites to be sent despite warnings. The system allowed the invites to proceed, making it difficult to correct the error afterward. They suggest adding an option to stop the process on warning, ideally as the default, to prevent accidental email sends and allow for corrections before delivery.

I’m trying to move a group[1] that currently coordinates activity via email to a group on my Discourse server. I decided to use the bulk invite function and my CSV file looked something like this:

user1@example.com, family_writing, 57
user2@example.com, family_writing, 57
. . . 

After submitting this file, I got this report:

Your bulk user invite file was processed, 10 invites mailed, 0 skipped and 10 warning(s).

[2024-01-21 05:29:08 +0000] Invalid Group ' family_writing'
[2024-01-21 05:29:08 +0000] Invalid Group ' family_writing'
...

My error was assuming the process would strip spaces from the group name fields. Afterall, group names can’t have spaces:

Screenshot 2024-01-21 at 6.28.01 PM

Thankfully I was able to change the 10 invites to go to the proper group before the recipients read their mail. I couldn’t find a way to edit the invites other than manually opening each invite and editing the “Ad to groups” field.[2]

Once the email is gone, it’s gone. In retrospect, I should have tested with the Gmail plus trick to invite myself. Still, the system saw there was a problem and yoloed the emails anyway. I’d have appreciated on option (ideally enabled by default) to not send those emails so that I could fix my file instead of fixing the invites.


  1. It’s theoretically a writers’ group, but we actually spend most of our time talking about family stuff. ↩︎

  2. Using the rails console would be the right choice for 100+ invites, but 10 is in the awkward place where manual editing is faster. ↩︎