Since I was unable to get Auto-accept to work (they way I thought it should), I started scouring the forums. It looks like everyone knows how to configure Auto-accept, but for people who "just can't get it to work," there are NO adequate responses on any forum I've seen. So I started to think, maybe I just don't get the purpose of Auto-accept. Maybe it's not what I think. What I thought was that if I configure my site to allow requests for access, then set auto-accept to yes for all groups (except owner), then when users clicked a link to my site, they'd get the Error: Access denied page, BUT would also have the Request Access link available AND that when they clicked that Request Access link, they's be automatically granted access to one of my groups. When that failed test after test, I started to think that maybe users have to have some level of access to the site before Auto-accept would work. In other words, if I added all authenticated users into a read-only/Visitor group, then those users to request access to a "higher level" group, and THAT is the request that would be Auto-accepted. Can anyone verify whether a user has to be in a group on my site before Auto-accept will work? Much obliged.

It would help if you first asked the question and then started the rambling explanation of why you are asking it.. Here I couldn't see any question until right at the very end. Please consider that people who might be able to help you will not have the patience to read a lot of theories before finally reaching a sentence with a question, so by doing things this way you are restricting the number of people who could answer your question. The question itself is a very understandable one (Does a user have to be in a group ...) once you find it. Start with it and people who know the answer won't need to read further. Moderator SP 2010 "FAQ" (mainly useful links): http://wssv4faq.mindsharp.com/default.aspx WSS3/MOSS FAQ (FAQ and Links) http://wssv3faq.mindsharp.com/default.aspx Both also have links to extensive book lists and to (free) on-line chapters

Your point is a good one, but could have been more charitably made.