Collect sign-ups with a waitlist

Before you open registration, you can collect interested emails with a waitlist. People join with just an email address; when you’re ready, they become full members simply by registering.

How it works for visitors

1. A visitor goes to your forum’s /waitlist page and enters their email.
2. They see an on-screen confirmation.

Joining the waitlist creates a provisional account: it exists but is inactive and cannot log in. When the person later registers normally with the same email, their provisional account is upgraded in place to a full member — they don’t lose their spot or create a duplicate.

Manage the waitlist as an administrator

Provisional (waitlist) members show up in the normal Users list, flagged as provisional. From there you review them and remove any you don’t want. Because provisional accounts can’t log in, they’re harmless until upgraded.

Add people programmatically

If you drive sign-ups from a landing page or a marketing tool, you can add emails to a waitlist over the API. This lets an external page feed straight into your forum’s waitlist without sending visitors to the forum first. See APIs, tokens & MCP for the endpoint and its request shape.

When to use a waitlist vs. invites

• Waitlist — you want to gauge and capture interest before launch, then open the doors to everyone at once.
• Invite-only — you want to control exactly who joins, on an ongoing basis. See Members, groups & permissions.