A full shift doesn't have to be a dead end, and a volunteer who can no longer make it shouldn't have to email you. Waitlists and self-cancellation handle both, and they work together: a cancellation is what promotes the next person in line.
Turning on a waitlist #
A waitlist belongs to a slot, not to the event. On the Slots tab, set Waitlist to the number of extra people the slot may queue — 4 means four people can wait behind a full shift. Leave it at 0 and the slot simply closes when it fills.
Once capacity is gone, the slot's button changes from Sign Up to Join Waitlist, and its badge reads "Full — 4 waitlist spots". Waitlisted people get the Waitlist Confirmation email so they know where they stand.
On the Signups tab, waitlisted people appear with a Waitlisted status, in the order they joined.
Automatic promotion #
When a confirmed spot frees up — someone cancels, or you cancel on their behalf — Manifyst promotes the first person on that slot's waitlist immediately. They become Confirmed and receive the Waitlist Promotion email.
There is nothing to approve and no queue to work through. If you want to promote someone out of order, cancel the signup ahead of them or edit statuses directly on the Signups tab.
Letting people cancel themselves #
Self-cancellation is per-event, on the Event Details tab:
- Allow attendees to cancel their own signup puts a cancellation link in the confirmation email.
- Cancellation deadline (hours before) sets how late they may use it.
48blocks self-cancellation inside the last two days, so you aren't losing people the night before.
The link carries a secure one-time token, which is why it works for guests who never created an account. It works for any signup — a shift, a potluck contribution, or both at once. Logged-in users have a second route: the [manifyst_my_signups] list has its own Cancel action. See Displaying Events on Your Site.
What the cancellation page looks like #
Following the link opens a confirmation step rather than cancelling straight away — a link in an email can be clicked by accident, or prefetched by a mail client.
- The event, slot, date, and name are shown so the person can check they are cancelling the right thing.
- Yes, Cancel My Signup releases the spot. No, Keep My Signup leaves it alone.
After confirming, they get the Cancellation Confirmation email, the spot returns to the pool, and the next waitlisted person is promoted.
Past the deadline, confirming returns an error instead of cancelling. At that point the person needs to contact the organizer, who can still cancel for them from the Signups tab — the deadline only applies to self-cancellation.
Following the trail #
Every one of these movements — a spot taken, released, or promoted — is recorded. See Activity Log and Stock History when you need to know exactly what happened to a slot and when.
