Suggestion for 3.0: E-mail re-verification and Registration Agreement

[Myr]

There are two big features that I would find very handy.
1) Force all members to reverfiy e-mail addresses. I've had IPB for 5 years now and we have thousands of members. I can no longer run Bulk E-mail without getting hundreds of bounces. We use bulk email for our rare newsletters. Anybody failing to reverify their email should be tossed into a group of the admin's choice.

2) Force members to reverify their registration agreement on next log in. From time to time, Registration agreements change. This is especially true of corporations. Again, members that don't agree should be put into a different group of the admin's choice.

[Axel Wers]

Yes, these features could be usefull.

[Morrigan]

There are two big features that I would find very handy.

1) Force all members to reverfiy e-mail addresses. I've had IPB for 5 years now and we have thousands of members. I can no longer run Bulk E-mail without getting hundreds of bounces. We use bulk email for our rare newsletters. Anybody failing to reverify their email should be tossed into a group of the admin's choice.

This is default in 2.3.4 at least that I've seen:
The text when changing your email (http://forums.invisionpower.com/index.php?act=UserCP&CODE=08):

Your current email address: email@email.com

PLEASE NOTE: You will have to re-activate your account after changing your email address.

An email will be sent to the email address you specify below, outlining what you need to do.

Proceeding with this action will log you out. It is strongly recommended that you reset your password before changing your email address if you are unable to remember your password.

[Myr]

It is done individually, yes. But I would like to force all members, no matter who they are, to re-verify their email and then either put them back in the group they were in or some catch all "failed" group.

[Morrigan]

I think that would tedious and obnoxious. Why don't you just delete inactive accounts if you are so worried about bad emails?

[Michael]

Because you wouldn't know who had an inactive email account until after you sent this bulk email.

[Morrigan]

I'm pretty sure users that haven't logged in for X amount of days would be considered inactive to me. /shrug but maybe thats me.

[Mark]

If I got an EMail that said "please reactivate your email" I would probably mark it as spam thinking it was some kind of phishing attempt (you know those emails you get that say "please click here and log into your paypal account so we can do something technical that you don't really understand" that point to random sites that look like paypal? I'd think it was something like that)

Although I do agree with the second suggestion

[Michael]

I'm pretty sure users that haven't logged in for X amount of days would be considered inactive to me. /shrug but maybe thats me.

An inactive user is not the same thing as a user with an inactive email address.

[WoLeRiNe`]

There are two big features that I would find very handy.

1) Force all members to reverfiy e-mail addresses. I've had IPB for 5 years now and we have thousands of members. I can no longer run Bulk E-mail without getting hundreds of bounces. We use bulk email for our rare newsletters. Anybody failing to reverify their email should be tossed into a group of the admin's choice.

2) Force members to reverify their registration agreement on next log in. From time to time, Registration agreements change. This is especially true of corporations. Again, members that don't agree should be put into a different group of the admin's choice.

+1

[Bamfer]

An inactive user is not the same thing as a user with an inactive email address.

Agreed. Which is the reason why I no longer send out bulk emails to my members. Even some of my current and active members changed their email address but did not change those address on the board.


So I agree with Myr. :thumbsup:

[Axel Wers]

I hate when members register with fictive email addresses. Then they cannot validate their accounts.
Accounts like these I delete immediately.

[Bamfer]

I hate when members register with fictive email addresses. Then they cannot validate their accounts.

Accounts like these I delete immediately.

Same here. But I usually wait a week before I delete the account. Sometimes they cannot access their email accounts right away (happens to me sometimes) so I want to give them time to validate their account. But I never understood why some people sign up with fake email address. Why waste your time?

[Michael]

Not all sites require a valid email address, so they're just trying to get registered without giving an address where they can ever be contacted back at.

[Bamfer]

Not all sites require a valid email address, so they're just trying to get registered without giving an address where they can ever be contacted back at.

True. But I forewarn them with a Guest Message that states they will need a valid email address to validate their account in order to have full access to the board.

However, some people still will not follow directions. *sigh*

[Michael]

Lots of people don't read important messages like that. Same reason I have to email people back every other day when they fail to see the login form on my site is asking for their email address instead of their username.

[Myr]

I'm pretty sure users that haven't logged in for X amount of days would be considered inactive to me. /shrug but maybe thats me.

Not at all. Every time I send out a bulk email, I get a ton of people surging back to the site. They tend to forget things and come back and may even become active again. The problem is when I Bulk email these days there are hundreds of broken email addresses. Some of them are active members. Those I catch pretty quickly because of bouncing PM notifications and forum subscriptions.

Hence my suggestion. It could be like many other features... if you're site doesn't need the tool, don't use it. Having it without having to hack it in would be a very nice thing for those of us that need it.

[Bamfer]

Lots of people don't read important messages like that. Same reason I have to email people back every other day when they fail to see the login form on my site is asking for their email address instead of their username.

Oh, I remember that problem when you first switch over Michael. And its still happening after all this time??? :huh:

Not at all. Every time I send out a bulk email, I get a ton of people surging back to the site. They tend to forget things and come back and may even become active again. The problem is when I Bulk email these days there are hundreds of broken email addresses. Some of them are active members. Those I catch pretty quickly because of bouncing PM notifications and forum subscriptions.

Hence my suggestion. It could be like many other features... if you're site doesn't need the tool, don't use it. Having it without having to hack it in would be a very nice thing for those of us that need it.

I agree. I would benefit from it as well. I could start sending out bulk emails again. ;)

[China J]

It's a well suggested idea much needed idea to have this feature. Just because some of you do little moderation in this area doesn't mean that others or larger boards don't have a problem with this. This is a major draw back to bulk emails with the bounce backs. I so hate looking for these bad addresses then have to manually delete one by one because there is no mass delete options or mass move options in ACP either.

What do you do about the spam bots, how do you sort around those bad addresses... Wait till they post or come back? As it's been mentioned a lot of you are confusing inactive user with inactive email address.

[Morrigan]

I guess it could be just me that thinks that an active user would properly keep their email address up to date but then again that could be my thinking versus everyone else.

[Mark]

If your members aren't giving you real emails to start with or updating their account when they change their email, what makes you think they'll reactivate it if you ask them?

And surely these reactivation emails would cause exactly what you're trying to avoid? bouncebacks?
The next time you send a bulk-mail, just treat this as your revalidation thing and delete members whose emails bounce back.

[China J]

If your members aren't giving you real emails to start with or updating their account when they change their email, what makes you think they'll reactivate it if you ask them?

And surely these reactivation emails would cause exactly what you're trying to avoid? bouncebacks?

The next time you send a bulk-mail, just treat this as your revalidation thing and delete members whose emails bounce back.

You may have missed this in the first post :P

Force members to reverify their registration agreement on next log in. From time to time, Registration agreements change. This is especially true of corporations. Again, members that don't agree should be put into a different group of the admin's choice.

[Myr]

If your members aren't giving you real emails to start with or updating their account when they change their email, what makes you think they'll reactivate it if you ask them?

And surely these reactivation emails would cause exactly what you're trying to avoid? bouncebacks?

The next time you send a bulk-mail, just treat this as your revalidation thing and delete members whose emails bounce back.

It is very obvious that you have never tried this. I have done this a time or 2. It is extremely tedious to look them up one by one and delete the members. I don't have that many free hours...

Not worth it when a fairly simple feature could be added to automate the whole thing.

[Morrigan]

Perhaps then the real modification wanted is an easier way to mass delete members?

[Myr]

Perhaps then the real modification wanted is an easier way to mass delete members?

No. Mass deleting members is easy enough. I want what I asked for... a way to re-verify everybody's email and and move the ones that don't re-verify to a different group. A group that I can disposition at my leisure.