The install I'm creating doesn't have a good email, what do I do?

In the case of institutional installs at large or small hubs, or when creating an install before a tenant moves in it is often required that we provision an install number before an email address is available. In these cases, it is tempting to manually the create database objects via the admin UI in order to get around this requirement. However, doing this will result in an install number with no associated OSTicket. Currently, there is a strong assumption among volunteers that install number == osticket created, so this many be confusing to others. In general, it is better to submit the normal join form with a "creative" email than it is to try to circumvent this.

One way to do this that doesn’t make meshDB confused but doesn’t send the management company an email is to fill out the join form as usual but use your own email with a plus code. e.g. andrew+nn584@nycmesh.net or andrew+olmsted-management@nycmesh.net. This will make it clear to others looking at the install that it is an institutional relationship, and that you are the POC, but it’s much better than using just andrew@nycmesh.net because MeshDB will attempt to group all submissions with the same email and you may want to use this trick later on another project.

The join form also requires a phone number, but you can just enter a bogus one and clear it from the member object in the admin UI after the fact if there is not one available. You can clear the email address with this trick too, though this may cause some confusion among volunteers if the old email is still present in the OSTicket, so this is not advised