Better handling of accounts created through Facebook/Twitter/etc

[Gabriel Torres]

After discussing a lot with your support department about something I think it is a bug, but they claim it is "working as intended", I leave here my feedback, as suggested by them.

If a user creates an account using an external API such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Live, Steam, etcetera, the field "username" is left blank. IMO, this field should be immediately filled by default with the name of the user passed by the external API.

By leaving the "username" field blank, the following problems arise:

1. The user is listed as an "incomplete" user at the ACP, however the user is able to post

2. The latest status updates are imported from the user's social network. These status updates are then listed on the "latest status updates" sidebar, but since the username is blank, the status update is listed without a matching user (i.e., looks like a ghost posted it). IPB shouldn't import status updates of users that don't have a username. I've already reported this as a bug, at not avail:

http://community.invisionpower.com/resources/bugs.html/_/ip-board/users-without-a-name-on-latest-status-update-hook-r44229

3. Because the user doesn't have a username, the link to the user's profile shows dashes for the SEO component, and the profile doesn't list a name for the user. IPB shouldn't allow profile pages of users without a username to be shown to regular users/visitors, just like it happens with banned user.

I hope I have contributed by giving my two cents on issues that happen with us, our users complain about them, yet support says IPB is working "as intended". >_<

[Mark]

That doesn't sound right to me. A user shouldn't be able to post if they haven't provided a username because it should prompt them for one. I'll ask one of the support agents to have another look at your request :)

[Dmacleo]

many of us have mentioned that there is no display name (vs user name) causing them to get stuck in validating stage through these registration methods. we're told theres no issue...

maybe related.

if allow display names set to no this not issue as the username is used from what I have seen from testing on my end.

[Gabriel Torres]

Thanks, Mark. Also thanks Dmacleo for your feedback. It might help.

I've just got an answer from the support department that should fix this issue. (Finally!)

Admin Panel > System > System Settings > System > Social Media and Sharing, find the setting labeled 'Facebook "Real name/Display name" handling', and select 'Enforce Real Name'.

Will keep an eye on this and let you guys know if this really fixes the issue.

However, this should only fix the issue for users coming from Facebook. We still have these issues from users using Windows Live registration. Contacted support about this.

[Dmacleo]

from my testing, with allow display names set to yes, forcing real name does not fix it.

YMMV of course :P

[Aiwa]

The account does have a user name... What it doesn't have, though, is a display name... The display name and seo name aren't being set because the user failed to complete setting up the account when they signed up. A work around is to disable allowing display names.

It's not a bad idea to hide incomplete accounts from regular members, though. Someone could probably whip up a quick hook for that bit... Redirect users to an error page when they try visiting the profile of an incomplete account.

[Dmacleo]

not sure its really an issue of the user failing to complete the setting when a fb/twitter acct creation does not force them to as a prereq to completion on the screen they see.

to the user it CAN look like they have done all that is required.

best option, IMO, is to force fb/twitter/etc acct creation to create a display name during the process if we allow display names. as in you MUST enter something here.

presently we, as far as I can tell, have no way to force them to when signing up with these methods. now its possible I have missed something on my end and there is a manner as it stands, please let me know if so.

[Gabriel Torres]

My big question is why IPB doesn't create a display name automatically based off on the user's real name (which is forced)? This seems like a bug to me, even though IPB team keeps saying it is working as intended...