VoiceLink

Joining with an invite

What you see before you join from an invite, and what each part means.

You always see where you are going first

When you open a VoiceLink invite, from an email, a link someone sent you, or an invite that arrives as a VoiceLink message or notification, VoiceLink first shows a confirmation screen. Nothing is joined until you choose Continue. The same screen appears for a plain room link with no invite attached (for example a room's Copy Room Link), and for a federated link naming another server: you always land on that server's own detail and invite screen, never a list of servers.

If you are already signed in to the VoiceLink web app, an invite sent to your account opens this screen right inside the app. You don't need to open a link in a browser. If you are in a room at the time, VoiceLink doesn't interrupt you: it tells you about the invite once, and the invite waits under Invites for you near the top of the page with Join and Decline buttons. Join opens this screen. Decline tells the server and the person who invited you, and the invite stops working. If you were offline, the invite is waiting when you next sign in. Notifications has the same Join and Decline buttons while the invite is still open.

What the screen says, in reading order

  1. The question, as a heading, for example "Join General Chat on VoiceLink Community?". Focus starts here when the screen opens.
  2. A summary: starts with your name when VoiceLink can find one, then who invited you (or, for a plain room or server link with no invite, that you're about to join it), to which room on which server, who runs that server and whether that owner is verified, and the message they wrote, if any. When you're signed in, it also says which account you're joining with and, when VoiceLink can tell, how that session signed in, for example "using a password" or "using Mastodon sign-in".
  3. The server's own message, if its admin set one: this is text the server itself wants you to see before you join, for example a short welcome or a rule. If the admin hasn't set one, VoiceLink shows its own short welcome text instead.
  4. Development server, only on a server flagged as a bleeding-edge test build: a clear notice that things may break or change, and how to report a bug.
  5. Before you continue: anything you should know, for example that the owner is not verified, that you need to sign in first, that the room has a password (your invite lets you in without it), or that the invite expires within the hour.
  6. About this server and invite: server name, its domain (for example voicelink.dev), owner, location (the room's own location if it has one, otherwise the server's), what the server is about, what the room is about, people in public rooms now, how many public rooms there are and how many currently have people in them, trust, identity check, identity fingerprint, who invited you, the room, who the invite is for, when it expires ("Never expires" for a permanent link, for example one on a blog or website), what you can do with the link ("With this link": this room only, these rooms only, or browse the server's other rooms after this room), whether the room has a password and whether you need an account. Anything the server doesn't give is left out.
  7. Room password, only for a plain link to a room that has a password: one field for that password. There is never a place to type or change your name or account details on this screen.
  8. The buttons, at the very bottom: Join (Continue for a whole-server invite), Sign in when you are not signed in, Not now and, for an invite link only, Report (a plain room or server link has no invite to report). Everything above is read before you reach them.

The screen never shows full web addresses. It names the server, its domain and its owner instead.

The buttons

Join
Goes straight into the room, using your account name. If you were signed in before on this browser, VoiceLink signs you back in by itself before this screen opens, so you just choose Join. If you are not signed in, the button says "Join as a guest" and VoiceLink uses the guest name you used last time (or a name like "Guest 4821" the first time); you can change your name later in Settings. If joining doesn't work, for example a wrong room password, the same screen comes back and says why. For a whole-server invite the button says Continue. If the invite needs an account, it says "Sign in and continue". In My VoiceLink, Continue opens the VoiceLink web app on the same server and doesn't ask again.
Sign in
Shown when you are not signed in. Opens the normal sign-in window. When you have signed in (with blind.software, Mastodon, the Client Portal or a VoiceLink account) you come back to this same screen, now with Join, even when signing in took you to another site and back.
Not now
Closes the screen without joining. Escape does the same. The invite still works, so you can open it again later until it expires (a link that never expires keeps working until the person who made it cancels it).
Report
Opens a short form: choose what is wrong (for example "I did not expect this invite" or "Looks like a scam or impersonation") and add a note if you like, then Send report. The report goes privately to that server's owners and admins. You don't join anything. Only shown for an invite link; there's nothing to report on a plain room or server link, since no one sent it to you.

Verified, trust and the identity fingerprint

Keyboard and screen readers

These all open the same confirmation screen:

Every one of these links only ever sends you to the server that made it. See Inviting people for how to make invites and set this server's own invite message, and My VoiceLink for the web portal.