Location in desktop browser: Left menu > Admin > Preferences > Settings > Group Type and Moderation panel on the Settings page

Location on mobile device: Bottom of page > More > Admin > Preferences > Settings > Group Type and Moderation panel on the Settings page

Note: You must select at least one of the settings on the Group Type and Moderation panel to help prevent spam from being sent to the group.

! Important: Setting changes take effect after you click or tap the Update Group button at the bottom of the page.

Restricted Membership

Select this checkbox if you want membership requests to be approved by a group owner or moderator before people are allowed to join the group.

Tip: With this setting, you can also create a Pending Subscription notice that is automatically sent to prospective members who apply to join the group. For example, you can use that notice to request additional information before you approve someone’s membership.

Note: If you want your restricted group’s members to be able to view the group’s member list (see the Member List Visibility setting), you must select this Restricted Membership checkbox before you can set the member list visibility in the Privacy panel.

Invite-Only Group

Select this checkbox to prevent people from trying to join the group from the group’s home page or emailing the group’s +subscribe email address. This setting is useful when you prefer to invite or directly add members to the group yourself and not field subscription requests from unknown people.

When this checkbox is selected:

• On the group’s home page, the Join This Group button (in an unrestricted group) or the Apply For Membership In This Group button (in a restricted group) does not appear.
• People cannot join the group by sending an email to the groupname+subscribe email address. That email address is not listed on the group’s home page or included in the help message that is sent when someone sends an email to the groupname+help email address.

Note: If someone still tries to join the group by emailing its +subscribe address, they receive a delivery failure notification.

Announcement-Only Group

Select this checkbox if your group is to be an announcement-only group rather than a discussion group. Only moderators will be allowed to post messages to the group.

Example: Groups.io Updates is an announcement-only group.

Message Moderation

This setting controls whether and how messages sent to the group must be approved by an owner or moderator before they are posted to the entire group. Select the option you want to apply:

• Messages are not moderated

  Messages do not need to be approved before they are posted to the group.

• All messages are moderated

  All messages—including those that are replies to existing topics as well as those that start new topics—must be approved before they are posted to the group.

• Messages that start new topics are moderated

  Only messages that start new topics must be approved before they are posted to the group. Messages that are replies to existing topics do not need to be approved.

Note: Group notices that have a #cal-notice, #cal-reminder, #guidelines-notice, or #monthly-notice system hashtag are not affected by the “All messages are moderated” or “Messages that start new topics are moderated” setting. Those notices are time sensitive, so they are always posted to the group without requiring moderator approval—unless the corresponding hashtag is modified to be moderated. See System hashtags and associated notifications.

New Members Moderated

Select this checkbox if you want to approve the first message or first few messages sent to the group by new members. This setting allows you to check that new members follow your group’s requirements for posting messages.

When you select the New Members Moderated checkbox, an Unmoderate After dropdown list appears. Select the number of consecutive approved messages (1, 2, 3, or 4) after which new members will be automatically unmoderated. If you do not want new members ever to be automatically unmoderated, select Not enabled from the Unmoderate After list.

Those members will be marked in the member list with a New Member Moderated NMM badge followed by a number. The number after the badge specifies how many consecutive approved messages are required before the new member is automatically unmoderated.

Note: The New Members Moderated checkbox is selected by default when you create a group that does not have restricted membership because Groups.io requires at least one Group Type and Moderation option to be set.