Questions members ask

Who this page is for: client website admins — quick answers to give a member who asks you something directly, not a page written for members to read themselves.

This documentation is written for the people running the site, not the people using it — nothing here is meant for a member to browse on their own. This page exists so that when a member emails or messages you with a question, you have a short, accurate answer ready to forward, rather than guessing.

"How do I update my profile or contact details?"

They sign in and go to their account page, then Edit Profile. Any field you've added as a custom profile field shows up there too, alongside name, email, and the built-in fields.

"How do I renew my membership?"

There's no separate "renew" button — they apply again the same way they joined the first time, from the Register for a new individual membership link on their account page, choosing a start date on or after their current membership's expiry date. This creates a new application the same way a first-time application does; see how a membership moves between statuses.

There are no automated renewal reminder emails. If you want members reminded before their membership expires, that's on you to do — nothing in AMS currently emails them automatically. A member checking their own account page can see their own expiry date, if they think to look.

"How do I cancel my membership?"

They can't do this themselves — the Cancel Membership button on their account page tells them to contact you. You cancel it for them from the Django admin; see Cancelling is a staff-only, by-hand action.

"What does 'Pending' / 'Active' / 'Expired' mean next to my membership?"

Point them at the membership statuses table. In short: Pending means applied but not yet approved (or approved but not yet started), Active means current, Expired means the end date has passed, and Cancelled means a staff member cancelled it before it expired.

"How do I get into the forum?"

If they have an active membership, they just click through to the forum from the site — they're signed in automatically, with no separate forum account or password to set up (see SSO). An active membership is what unlocks it; someone with no active membership, or an expired one, is shown a sign-in prompt instead of the forum itself.

"I forgot my password — what do I do?"

Forgot your password? on the sign-in page sends them a reset email themselves — you don't need to do anything, and you can't see or reset it for them.

"How do I add someone to my organisation, or remove them?"

Only an organisation Admin can do this, from the organisation's own page — invite by email, remove a member, or promote someone else to Admin. See Invitations and Removing a member and admin roles for the details, including the rule that an organisation always needs at least one Admin.

"Why can't I see this page?"

If a page is marked Members only, anyone without an active membership — including a member whose membership has expired — gets a "not found" response instead of the page. See Public or Members only in the CMS reference.

"Can I use the site in another language?"

If your site has more than one language configured, a language switcher is available in the site footer for signed-in members (and in the header for visitors who aren't signed in yet). See Languages & translations if they're asking because a page looks untranslated — that's a content gap for you to fill in, not something they can fix themselves.