Moderators can't use "Bulk Add To Group" even if they're group owners

Product Support

AI-generated summary

mint_saxon reports that moderators who are also group owners cannot use the “Bulk Add To Group” feature, despite being able to see and create staged users. They ask whether this restriction is intentional or if a patch enabling this functionality would be accepted. Their use case involves migrating private mailing lists to Discourse, where staged users (created via email) should automatically receive category notifications via the group-category-notification plugin. They note that adding staged users to groups may be deprecated, and are open to alternatives. Additionally, they’d like group owners — even non-moderators — to be able to add new subscribers by email so users can receive notifications immediately without logging into Discourse. Background details explain the need for seamless email-based participation during migration, and the desire to preserve existing mailing list behavior (receiving all messages) until users opt out.

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  1. Create an administrator account, a moderator account, and a staged account (e.g. by sending a private message to an e-mail address which is not associated with an existing user account)
  2. Create a group, set the moderator account as the owner
  3. Log in as (or Impersonate) the moderator account, and go to the group page

I thought “Bulk Add To Group” feature would be available:

  • Group owners can add new members
  • Moderators can see “staged” accounts, and create them by sending a private message to an e-mail address

Is this deliberate, or would y’all accept a patch to enable “Bulk Add To Group” for group owners who are also moderators?

We’d also like group owners to be able to add new subscribers by e-mail (ideally without the group owners having to be moderators, but so far all of the relevant group owners happen to be), so that people can start receiving e-mail for their list immediately, without having to sign into Discourse first.