Share a Space with a link: people ask to join, and you approve

A community grows faster when you can post one link. Since Barside 1.40, every Space can have a share link that shows the Space's card to anyone, in Barside or on barside.space, without exposing who is in it or what they said. People who like what they see choose Ask to join, and their request waits for you. You approve it, an invitation goes out, and in a paid Space the person pays only after that. Nobody joins a private Space, and nobody pays, without a yes from you or a moderator.

This guide covers making the link, what people see, join requests, the setting that makes members' invitations wait for approval, and the limits. For everything else Spaces does, start with team chat and paid communities.

Make a share link

1. Open the Space and choose Manage Space. Owners and moderators can do this.
2. Open Share link and choose Create link. Barside makes an address that starts with https://barside.space/space# and ends with a code of 24 random characters.
3. Choose Copy link and paste it into a post, a newsletter, a bio or a message.

Under the link, Barside says what happens when people use it: in a private Space, "They can ask to join. You or a moderator approve each request", and in a paid one, "and they pay when they accept." Each Space has one link. Replace link makes a new code and retires the old one at once, and Turn off stops the link without making a new one. A turned-off, replaced or unknown code, and the link of an archived Space, show "This link does not work."

The code sits after the # in the address. Browsers keep everything after # to themselves, so the code never reaches the barside.space web server.

What people see

On the web. The link opens a page on barside.space with the Space's card: the name, the description you set in Space settings, the Space's color, and Invitation only or Public community. The member count appears only if you show it in Space settings, and the price only if the Space is paid. Members, email addresses, IDs and posts are never shown, and the page works without a sign-in. Under the card are Open in Barside and Download Barside, and three short steps: get Barside, sign in to Spaces, choose Open in Barside.

In Barside. Open in Barside opens Spaces with the card. Someone who received the link another way can also open Spaces, choose Join with a link in the sidebar and paste the link, or just its code. What the card offers depends on the Space and the person:

People who were removed from the Space, or who are blocked with the owner, see "You cannot join this Space." Guests joining a video meeting from a browser cannot use share links; Spaces needs the Barside app and a free Spaces sign-in.

Join requests: approve or decline

A request from a private Space's card waits for the owner and moderators. They get a desktop notification when Notify me about invitations and join requests is on (quiet hours and Do not disturb apply, and several requests at once make one notification), and a badge on the Space in the list, on Manage Space, and on the Spaces button in the sidebar and the desktop bar.

Manage Space → Join requests lists each person's name, handle, symbol, message and the time they asked, with Approve and Decline:

• Approve sends a normal invitation from the person who approved, with the usual notification and email. Barside says "Approved." and that the person gets an invitation.
• Decline removes the request, and Barside says "Request declined." The person can ask the same Space again after 7 days.

The person sees "Request sent · waiting for approval" on the card and under Your requests on the Spaces home, and can cancel it. When the invitation arrives, they accept it like any other. In a paid Space, the invitation shows the price, and they pay on Stripe's checkout page when they accept, so approval always comes before payment. Barside keeps 8% of each payment, or 5% while you have Barside Plus.

A few limits keep requests useful: one open request per person and Space, 10 requests an hour per person, a verified email, and at most 200 requests waiting per Space. A request waits at most 30 days. Its message is deleted as soon as it is answered, cancelled or expires.

Invitations from members wait for approval

Members can send invitations when Members may send invitations is on. Since 1.40, a second setting in Space settings, on by default, makes those invitations wait: Invitations from members need approval. It applies to invitations by handle, user ID or email.

• The member sees "Sent to the owner for approval." The invited person sees nothing, and no email goes out yet.
• Owners and moderators get a notification, and Manage Space → Invitations waiting for approval lists who invited whom, with Approve and Decline.
• Approve, and it becomes a normal pending invitation from the member, email included. Decline, and it ends. A waiting invitation lasts 7 days, and removing the member who sent it ends it too.

Turn the setting off in Space settings, and members' invitations go out at once, as before. Invitations from the owner and moderators never wait.

Tips for a link that brings the right people

• Write the description. It shows on the card and on invitations, so say who the Space is for and what happens inside. Set it when you create the Space or in Space settings.
• Show the count when it helps. A busy Space is a reason to join; a new one may look better without a number. Both switches are in Space settings.
• Ask for a sentence. People can add a message to their request. A line like "Tell us what you work on" in your post gives you something to go on before you approve.
• Keep the room calm as it grows. Slow mode, a read-only setting and AI moderation with your own AI are in Manage Space, and the Space helper answers the questions every newcomer asks.
• Replace the link if it spreads too far. Replace link retires the old address the moment you choose it.

Privacy

The card shows only what you chose to show: the name, description and color, the visibility, and the member count and price when they apply. Nobody sees members or messages from a link. A request carries the person's display name, handle and message to the owner and moderators; the message is deleted when the request is answered, and the rest of the request 30 days later. The barside.space page reads the card from Barside's Spaces server. The link's code stays after the #, so it never reaches the barside.space web server, and the page is not indexed by search engines. Read Spaces and your data.

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