Multiple Use Invite Links

[techAPJ (Arpit Jalan)]

We have improved the core invite system in Discourse 2.5 to add a new feature – Invite Links.

Invite Links can be used multiple times and is not tied to an email. Only staff users (admins and moderators) can create multiple use invite links.

Creating Invite Link

Invite links can be created from /my/invited page by clicking on + Send Invite button → “Multiple Users” tab.

The default upper limit for “maximum redemptions allowed” is 5000. It can be adjusted via site setting invite_link_max_redemptions_limit.

Invite Link Listing

Existing invite links can be viewed at /my/invited/links page.

Redeeming Invite Link

Invite link can be redeemed by multiple users and at the time of redeeming invite the user provides email address and username. User also has the option to set Name and Password.

Once the user accepts the invite they’ll have to click the account activation link sent on their email address.

Tracking Redemptions

Invite link redemptions can be tracked on /my/invited/redeemed page.

Future Improvements:

Currently only staff users can send invite links. We want to extend this feature to group managers as well.

Any feedback here is greatly appreciated!

[nathankershaw]

I so love this feature - it is super useful and we’ll be utilising it a lot over the next two years.

I’ve noticed a problem for my users: if a user who is already signed in to Discourse on that browser attempts to use the link, they get this message:

This means that my group owner (who has been sending the link about) has to instead add them to the group using the Group page. No biggy, but it means unnecessary confusion and emails flying about just when we are trying to make a good 1st impression.

What I suggest is that if an existing user attempts to use the link, then they are automatically added to any groups specified in the invite and counted as a successful invite.

[codinghorror (Jeff Atwood)]

That’s not in scope for the feature? The idea is to invite new users.

I agree the copy here is not great though and could be improved considerably.

[nathankershaw]

@codinghorror

That’s not in scope for the feature? The idea is to invite new users.

Fair enough; it is consistent with the way single invites behave as well.

How would you feel about a simple workflow to cover this situation then? I suspect that it will crop up a bit as people use this. So: IF an existing user clicks a multi-user invite link which includes a group allocation (AND the user is not already a member of any of these groups) THEN:

1. a composer is automatically launched for a PM between the user and the link author containing this text (or similar), such as with the Request to join group feature.
   • (username) has attempted to use your invitation link which included group allocation to (groups in invitation), but this could not be actioned as they are already a user of (sitename). Please consider adding them to directly to these groups.

[sam (Sam Saffron)]

I think we wait on this for a bit longer and see how repeated this request here. At a minimum we improve copy.

There is prior art, when you are invited to a whatsapp group you are not expected to be a brand new user on the whatsapp platform, you are just plonked into the group, same goes for facebook.

That said this feature is all about getting users not on the Discourse platform, onto the platform. The group stuff is an added bonus, not the main menu item.

[cogdog (Alan Levine)]

This has been working great for our new community; it streamlines the account creation to skip the moderation step, and the flexibility of the link means we can use it in custom emails, messaging, even sharing in project meetings.

We did an online conference presentation about our community (by screen sharing a topic thread), and we were able to have people in the audience quickly create acounts and join the conversation.

@techAPJ

Invite link redemptions can be tracked on /my/invited/redeemed page.

I like this a lot to track invites. If requests were possible, it might be nice to filter by the link requests, and even to see which links were used (I have 3 different ones in play).

[cogdog (Alan Levine)]

I could use this feature. Our community is starting basic and we are adding new areas as we go. We have two areas that have been added that are limited access by group, and so adding users who may have joined earlier or the general join button is a lot of manual labor.

So in our community it would be useful to have a link that could serve to bring in new members and add to a group that could also add existing users to same group.

Can we have a pony too

Thanks for this feature.

[tannerhearne]

We could really use a way to more easily allow existing users to join groups via a link like @nathankershaw mentioned.

If the link was smart enough to where we could generate a single link for both new and existing users that would really help too. Allow new users to join the Discourse instance and join the group. Or let an existing user just join the group.

+1 from me

[nathankershaw]

@sam

I think we wait on this for a bit longer and see how repeated this request here.

Well, I’m not the only one, clearly! Dumping them straight in the group a la WhatsApp as you suggest does make a lot of sense.

[nathankershaw]

Optional global invite code

I would look at the possibility of adding support for landing on a specific topic when using Invite Links. But note that there would be a bit of friction here as the user will need to click on activation link in email before being logged into the forums.

Arpit, I’ve got another use-case that has cropped up for this same request:

Inviting non-users to a poll

I want to be able to use a topical poll to pull in users to our login-only site, and I do not have their email addresses. My only way to do this at present is either

1. share the link to the poll - this has double ‘friction’ as they have to confirm their email address and then wait in the approval queue
2. share the multiple use invite link and find some way to guide them to the poll after they have joined (none of them slick)

It would be extremely helpful to have them join and land on the poll in one slick movement (albeit it with an email confirmation blip).

[BIBI (Chris Corr)]

Presumably this doesn’t work in local login is switched off and you use SSO?

[codinghorror (Jeff Atwood)]

invites are incompatible with SSO, because you would be bypassing the parent site authentication.

[BIBI (Chris Corr)]

Hi Jeff thanks for confirming.

[Checkout (Gill)]

If I fill in the email address of the person you want to invite in the single user section then switch to multiple user tab and get the link, drop the link into an email I send separately to them will that link only work if that specific email address is used?
That would be great if so because then I could more easily invite a specific user more personally from an email address I know wont end up in their junk and that they will recognise. Thanks

[nathankershaw]

You can generate a link from the Single User tab to do just that (‘Copy Invite Link’)- no need to use the Multiple Users tab.

[nathankershaw]

@sam

I think we wait on this for a bit longer and see how repeated this request here. At a minimum we improve cope.

This has come up for us again, with a group owner getting frustrated that he has to work out who is already on the forum and join them up via a different mechanism. I’ve of course educated him about it and it isn’t a massive deal, but this will be causing quite a bit of friction for people making use of the Multi-use links (which rock by the way!)

[techAPJ (Arpit Jalan)]

@sam

At a minimum we improve copy.

The existing error copy when a logged in user tries to redeem single/multiple invite link is:

Oops, looks like you are attempting to accept an invitation for another user. If you are not %{current_user}, please log out and try again.

Should we update it to be:

The invite you are trying to redeem works only for users that do not have an existing account. Please log out and try again.

[codinghorror (Jeff Atwood)]

Sure that’s good! One minor tweak:

Sorry! This invitation is intended for new users, who do not already have an existing account.

[techAPJ (Arpit Jalan)]

Okay, done via:

UX: improve error message for already logged in users