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 a member. You cannot apply directly from the community page.

The participation type is shown on each community page. In approval-based and invite-only communities, some content such as chat is hidden from non-members.