I just committed to a site which went into private beta, and I haven't yet received my beta invite.
True, it might just be a fluke. Or I checked too soon. Or whatever.
In any case, it exposes a fundamental flaw in the way Private Betas are set up. Currently, you gain access to a private beta by clicking the link in an email sent to the address you gave Area 51 when you committed.
See any unneeded complication? There is a chance of the email getting mistyped, being sent to spam, or SE's email servers being blacklisted. In either case, I wouldn't get my invitation.
How can we fix it?
Make Area 51 private betas tied to the OpenID I use to log in. If it's the same, and is linked to the same A51 account I committed with, I have access to the site, right? When I have access, I could then generate those private beta invite URL's for other people.
Are there any problems with this idea?