Participation types: open, approval, and invite-only

Communities have three participation types, each with a different joining flow.

Open

Pressing "Join" makes you a member immediately.

Approval-based

You send a join request and become a member once a community admin approves it. Until then, your status is "Pending".

Invite-only

You can join only when invited by an administrator (shown as "Invitation Only" in the UI). You cannot apply directly from the community page.

The participation type is shown on each community page. Chat is available only to members regardless of participation type. What is visible on the community page is determined by a separate visibility setting, not by the participation type.