In Status, there are different types of communities, and your ability to access them depends on three factors that work independently: token requirements, join requirements and discoverability.
| Community | Requirement | Access managed by | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Token-gated | Token requirements | Community owner and admins | To join and maintain access, you must hold the required tokens by buying crypto or receiving them from others. |
| Open | None | N/A | You are not required to hold any specific tokens to join. |
| Join approval required | Join approval | Community owner and admins | You need to wait for the community owner or admin to approve your join request. |
| Join approval not required | None | N/A | You can join the communities directly if you meet the token requirements or there's no token requirement. |
| Private | You need a community member to invite you to join. | SNT token holders | The community doesn't appear on the Discover page in Communities. SNT holders can vote to change the community's visibility. |
| Public | None | N/A | The community appears on the Discover page in Communities. SNT holders can vote to change the community's visibility. |
Imagine you're a fan of a digital artist who manages a Status Community. This community is specifically for those who own the artist's issued collectibles. In this case, the artist's community could be token-gated and public, and it doesn't require approval for join requests. Thus, the artist could build a larger fan base more quickly.
Consider another situation where your organization plans to run a Status Community only for its members. To restrict access to unrelated individuals, your organization could create a token-gated community and require approval for joining. If the organization prefers to stay unnoticed by the public, it could advocate for the community to stay private.