Eliminate Tech Support Usage by 30%

[David Goldsmith]

This was my ticket....

Out of 17 registrants this week, 11 of them had the same problem. They registered and then tried to enter the forum to begin posting and changing their profile.

Is there any way, and there should be a way, for a screen to appear that says, you must check your email to confirm your registration before you can make changes.

Suggestions:

1. If someone adds the confirmation component, then the software should immediately introduce this type of screen WITHOUT approval. Then if the admin person does not want this function they turn it off.

2. Instead of error codes alone, since I've got to believe this is a UNIVERSAL challenge for any forum, even if they don't email you that this is a problem, have the error code ALSO suggest that the user check their email for the conformation code.

On my end, I've had to set up a standard procedure on my ning (social networking site) alter my class material to include this action, sent out emails to my group, etc.

To much work...and when my book is launched and I get 1000's of these I'll kill myself.

[Luke]

You can change the verbage for that page in the language files... But it should be easier to customize. And the user should be logged in after registering.

[AndyF]

Would not be difficult to insert a quick conditional and display a message to the validating group. As a matter of fact, I used to do this on 2.3. :) , it did have a message for guests too (obviously a different one) , this version is in our Articles on here.



And that is what it looked like.

Would not be difficult to do this for 3.0, I'll probably whip something up over the weekend to do this (skin edit version) and post it in our Articles here.

I'm 50/50 on something like this being included in the product as standard though...

[The Geek]

Anything that clarifies and prevents problems for users should always be default! :)

[Morrigan]

Thought I'd point out, I LOVE your percentage! I wonder what study gave you that percentage!

1. If someone adds the confirmation component, then the software should immediately introduce this type of screen WITHOUT approval. Then if the admin person does not want this function they turn it off.

There is at least ONE visual way to know that you're account isn't active, up at the top, next to the username (as AndyF's image shows) there is a Resend validation link. There is also a confirmation after registration that says:

Your registration has been submitted.<br /><br />The board administrator has chosen to require validation for all email addresses. Within the next 10 minutes (usually instantly) you'll receive an email with instructions on the next step. Don't worry, it won't take long before you can post!<br /><br />The email has been sent to

If you need a screen shot of this screen I'll go kick up a registration on my test board so that you can see it but as you can see it does state that they DO need to check their mail to validate their account. There is even one (and I'll dredge it up if you want to see it) that explains if the administrator requires validation on top of, or in loo of, email validation.

So TECHNICALLY what you're asking for here IS already in place. If it's not exactly what you're looking for then PLEASE follow the instructions of the article that AndyF said he might make. If he doesn't then I will see about writing one for you. :)

2. Instead of error codes alone, since I've got to believe this is a UNIVERSAL challenge for any forum, even if they don't email you that this is a problem, have the error code ALSO suggest that the user check their email for the conformation code.

This is easily fixed by adding text to your language files error codes. You can either add a link to the "Help" pages which do have assistance or you can specifically state in a bullet format a few of the possible problems that could cause the error. The error code itself is not for the user, the error code is actually for you to be able to look it up in the IPS knowledge base of error codes, in case you can't figure out what is causing it.

As for this becoming a DEFAULT feature. I'm with AndyF, I'm 50/50 either way. It's very easily attainable to reach the necessary goal that you want that is above and beyond the default measures but the default measures have worked for me for years. I think this is a PEBKAC fail truly.

[AlexJ]

Andy that would be great! Thank you.

[AndyF]

Finally got around to adding this > http://community.invisionpower.com/resources/articles.html?record=460 , quick skin edit for those who need it.