Account handling improvement ideas + improved FB/Twitter connect logins

[Tinytimrob]

I have a few ideas on improving account handling, registration, and Facebook/Twitter connect logins in IP.Board 3.2. If you could make these changes it would be really really really really useful, and would save hours of modding to fix things that shouldn't really need fixing. It all seems very obvious to me... I don't get why these things haven't already been done, especially considering the retail price of IP.Board and the fact it's used by some big organisations.

- I want to be rid of login-names as they cause too much confusion with my members, due to being different from display-names. Members should really log in using their e-mail address, eliminating the need for this pointless login-name field. I know this won't be popular with EVERY admin, so here's my solution to that:
--- It would be nice if a setting could be added so that users do not need to fill in a log in name when they register, and instead have the login-name DB field automatically populated with the e-mail address. Extending this, upon changing an e-mail address, the login-name database field should also automatically be populated with the new e-mail. This could potentially be extended further, with the ability to create a hook where the site can immediately connect to the other SQL user databases used for my ring of sites, and update the login fields in those SQL databases too.

- Facebook Connect is poorly designed. I've had members not realise how it works, and then sign in via their not-linked-up Facebook account, only to find they now have 2 accounts. This is a rubbish design, especially since having multiple accounts is currently a TOS violation on my site, and mods end up warning the inexperienced users who don't fully understand the way IP.Board is treating Facebook connections. I can really see this being a much bigger problem on a larger site which imposes such a rule. I would prefer that when a user logs in with a Facebook account that isn't linked up, they are shown a screen which reads "This Facebook account isn't associated with a ForumNameHere account. Do you want to register a new forum account, or would you like to link this Facebook account to an existing forum account?". If they then have to register a new forum account, the system should force them to input their display-name, e-mail, password, etc, so that they will 100% definitely be able to log in WITHOUT Facebook from that point onwards, without requiring any extra effort on anyone's part. (This is necessary for my forum, for which I'm currently writing a server daemon that reads from my user DB directly to provide access to forum accounts within games and networking applications - but my users want Facebook integration on the main forum too, and from what I understand, Facebook Connect rules state (or did state at one point) that in order for a site to make use of Facebook features, you must be able to log in and create new accounts using Facebook... that's fine, as long as they can also log in normally in my other non-IPB applications that read from my IPB member table!). The same thing applies to any other Connect, OpenID, or other such log-in option. In the event that they do not choose either option (completing registration or attaching FB to their account), nothing should happen. No incomplete accounts need to be made, as they just get deleted by the admins in the ACP, which wastes time and is inefficient.

OH, and users registering via Facebook Connect need to be shown my forum TOS (registration guidelines) too. The fact that they come from Facebook doesn't give them the right to misbehave, and it doesn't give them different rules to everyone else either. I want to enforce compulsory acceptance of the terms for all new users, before they are allowed onto the site as a proper member.

- New users who've never been to a forum before don't seem to know much about profile customisation, and the mods of my site keep having to tell the new users all about the different customisation features and how to find/use them, which irritates the mods and wastes their time. To combat this, the user should be easily able to find these customisation settings, and should be prompted to customise their profile as soon as they've completed the registration process. Ideas are as follows:
--- There should be a tab on the top of the board which links straight to the Account Management system for the logged in user, which might be called "Account". I'd also like a sort of 'landing page' or 'home screen' for the account manager, which shows a few basic things about the user (e-mail, number of posts, how many posts they need to make to be upgraded to the next user group (along with a graphical bar), the fact they haven't set a photo yet, etc). Hooks (or mods that don't require file editing) should be made available to add more things to this landing page, as needed by the admins of the various sites running IP.Board.
--- I would like to write a short description in the ACP about each user group, so that the user has an idea of what things they're able to access on the site. This description could be displayed to the user on the said landing page.
--- After clicking the e-mail validation link (or after creating a new account via the Connect function) the user should be immediately redirected to the said landing page, where they will be able to see that they have to make X posts, haven't set a photo, and all that; giving an incentive for the user to personalise their account and profile as soon as they've registered.
--- There should be an ACP setting to enable a top-of-page reminder, telling the user in an irritating, in-your-face box that they haven't validated their e-mail yet, or that they still have to make X posts to get to the next user group, set their photo, or whatever, and advising them to visit the account system to fix these things.

If you could sort all this out then that would be brilliant!

Thanks for your time.

[Tinytimrob]

I have just discovered that, by setting the "internal login handler" to use "E-mail address" in IPB 3.1.4, that the login name option is removed from the registration form, and users log in using their e-mail address. In the event of this, the "name" field in the DB is populated with the display name. HOWEVER when a user changes their display name, the regular "name" field of the DB is then not updated, which prevents a new user from registering using that old display name. I'm assuming this is a bug so I'll report it in the tracker.

I feel my other suggestions are still useful so hopefully either some work will be done on this or some mods/hooks created further down the line.

[sunrisecc]

Known bug listed in the tracker.


http://community.invisionpower.com/tracker/issue-27584-internal-login-method-and-useremail/page__gopid__106256#entry106256

Added link

[Tinytimrob]

Thanks, but as stated in my report, your bug isn't the same as mine.

I also just discovered that on a fresh install of IP.Board 3.1.4, the Facebook Connect does in fact allow users to attach Facebook to an existing account, and does copy the e-mail address from their Facebook account to the forum now (it didn't before). This wasn't working on my board, but after disabling and re-enabling Facebook Connect it seems to have fixed. HOWEVER this doesn't excuse the fact that accepting the TOS isn't required for Facebook sign-ups, nor does it alter the fact that no account password is ever set. I know you can set one from the control panel, it's just inconvenient for members who don't understand the system, who then have to have it all explained to them.

[Tanax]

The facebook connect changes you propose defeats the very purpose of the feature - to be able to easially sign in to your forum with their facebook account instead of having to sign up. If they're forced to sign up regardless if they've logged in using their facebook account or not then what's the point for them to use the facebook connect??

I think it would instead be better that upon logging in with a facebook account that has the same email as some already registered member on your website, inform them that the email already exists and the facebook account will be linked with the already existing account - and of course ask for password for the account so there's no hacking-possibilities. When they link it, the login-name and password to login to the site will be the same as the already registered account but with the added ability to also login via facebook to that account.

If the email registered to the facebook account does not exist on your website, the website creates a forum account with their username of choice. Possible choices could be "Facebook name", "Other: <input>". Password will not be required since it will be logged in via facebook and email it will fetch from facebook.

This eliminates the unneccessary 2-way login/register that you propose while still being extended with better "duplicate"-checking.

[Tinytimrob]

On my forum, some of my members want the choice to sync their Photo, About Me, status updates, etc with Facebook. In order to allow this I must turn on Facebook Connect. However, I need people to be able to log in to their account outside of my website, in areas where Facebook Connect isn't an option for logging in (for example, they must be able to log in to a game I've written in C++, that runs on the user's computer, and uses a daemon on my web server to provide log-in access by checking user input of e-mail and password directly against the ibf_members table of my database).

Because the Facebook Connect is an all-or-nothing scenario, the problem that users can then register via Facebook and then be unable to access the parts of my site/service that can't use FB Connect. Hence why I want them to be able to set a password for their forum account when logging in with Facebook.

I also want people coming from Facebook to have to agree to my board's registration terms and conditions before the account can be made!

[Hunting insects...]

I also want people coming from Facebook to have to agree to my board's registration terms and conditions before the account can be made!

All Facebook members are apparently "holier than thou" and it is part of the Facebook T&Cs that when using Facebook Connect, sign-ups become instant members regardless of what you as the site owner might want.

[Tinytimrob]

7ae9f7fc09003ebb4fc40af6beea065a

[Hunting insects...]

Good luck... I'm just quoting the stock reply that has been repeatedly given to me and others.