"Joining a room" means the process where an external user becomes an internal user.
The joining process is different for each Privacy mode:
- Open:
- An external user, Alice, acquires the open invite code either through the room's public website or via other means
- Alice consumes the invite code in her SSB app that supports being a room client
- The room accepts the connection from Alice and immediately grants her a tunnel address
- Alice has become an internal user
- Community:
- An internal user, Bob, signs into the room's web dashboard where he creates a one-time invite code in the form of an invite link, provided by the dashboard.
- Bob informs an external user, Alice, of the invite link
- Alice consumes the invite according to the invites specification
- Alice has become an internal user
- Restricted:
- A moderator, Carla, signs into the room's web dashboard where she creates a one-time invite code in the form of an invite link, provided by the dashboard.
- Bob informs an external user, Alice, of the invite link
- Alice consumes the invite according to the invites specification
- Alice has become an internal user
To summarize, in Community mode, all internal users can create invites while in Restricted mode only moderators can. Open mode means there always is an invite for all the users in the room.