April 6 - First Version of Member Email Verification!
Hi Community!
I can't believe this day is finally here! Yes, today, we will start asking members to verify their email addresses! Many of you have recomended this for many years and we are excited to share that the first version of this update will go live today!
Why are we verifying member email addresses?
- More accountability
- Reduce spam
- Make the gate around 7 Cups a little stronger
- Increase overall site safety
How will it work?
1. When a new member signs up, a confirmation email is auto-sent on new account creation
2. New members will not be able to upload a profile picture till they verify their email, but they will still be able to use all other elements of the site.
3. If you have not confirmed within 48 hours you get a yellow banner at the top of your dashboard reminding you to confirm (see example below).
Once clicked, this pop-up will appear -
4. The confirmation link has the following conditions:
a. Confirmation link is good = send you to the member dashboard, where you will see "email confirmed" in green at the top.
b. Confirmation link is bad or too old = tells you to re-request confirmation
To start, the only privilege we will limit is profile pictures. The goal is to test this out and then start locking more privileges behind the email verifciation. This is a phase one and we will continue to learn and hear your feedback.
How will this update interact with older members/ members not new today?
- All members will have the opportunity to verify their email address and we encourage them to do so.
- The yellow banner will appear inviting you verify
If members choose not to verify their email, and they have a profile picture already are they able to at least revert to the generic letters again, if they decide they no longer want their current picture?
@AffyAvo
Hi there - per my knowledge right now - This will only impact new users moving forward. So if a member who joined prior to today does not verify there email, they will not have any consequences related to their profile picture.
@Laura Ok, sounds good! I just don't want to see a member get stuck with a picture, especially if they decided to use one of themselves and no longer felt comfortable.
@AffyAvo - there will continue to be the ability to get support and have things fixed manually, etc.
@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn
HI Krink was wondering- what if someone comes on and DOES NOT want to verity there email? Yes they get 48 hours to do this or something like that. But they can just let the account get shut down or whatever you do, and make another. Many don't mind the "letter" as a pic. But any ways good start on making good changes here
@Laura it affects me, and i am not really "new" here 
Hello Laura, further to this question. You say you'll "lock out" more features in future. Are older members like myself forced to verify email address so that we are not totally locked out in future? Or will the exemption that now applied to profile picture also apply to future featuers you decide to lock out?
@BrightWriter - I echo this question.
@BrightWriter
My understanding is it will only apply to accounts moving forward
Many thanks MonBon! Perhaps Laura could confirm this? And also let us know how to stop that prompt to verify your email from popping up every time you click to a new screen on the site. #annoying
@BrightWriter @MonBon Thank you! @Laura can you confirm? Appreciate all you do.
@Laura
This is not true. I've been a member for several years. I want to change my profile picture, have been promted to verify email, and no email has been sent to me in my regular folder or junk mail folder.
This wont affect guests ability to request 1-1 chats, right? A lot of guests Ive recommended making an account to have said they dont want to create an account because of things like being found out by their families, or similar (Mind, I generally take quite a few LGBTQ+ chats)
@EefyWillums For now I don't think guest access is planning on being altered at all. Since guests never had to give an email address there shouldn't be a change.
@EefyWillums
Verification is not a requirement for 1-1 guest chats
@AffyAvo @Laura Awesome! Thanks guys :D
@Laura
I am very excited that we are making these steps for member accounts, finally! I hope that it goes well, and as time goes, we can add more things for access be required for verification. Yay to healthy steps for the community! ♥
@Jenna
that is the plan!
@Laura When I click on "Send verification email", it does nothing... it would be good to put a message that the email was sent or something (but it seems the email is not sent neither). How get this verification?
@TortueDesBois It worked for me, and I did get a little message after verifying too.
@AffyAvo it does nothing for me. hmm
@TortueDesBois Spam folder maybe?
@AffyAvo when i click on the button, it does nothing, the popup does not change. no message that an email is sent, nothing. I don't think my email is the issue...
@TortueDesBois - sounds like a bug, as there is supposed to be a confirmation
@AffyAvo @KrinkTheMellowUnicorn I received the email, but it's weird that does not put a message that the email was sent or something. would evite to try multiple times.
@TortueDesBois = yes, it really should say "message sent" or something like that. I tried it just recently but forgot to notice what happened :(
@TortueDesBois
My email was sent to the spam folder, despite that regular 7 cups emails arrive in my notifications folder. Maybe they did send it, but it's hidden away in the spam?
@Laura Awesome. Excited to see how this improves this site!
Woooooooaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh !!!!
"2. New members will not be able to upload a profile picture till they verify their email."
This is good 
but to [better] prevent the use of inappropriate photos right out the gate, and as it has been in place for several months now here, new Members should be active for a while (length of time as set forth by 7 Cups adm) until uploading a profile picture is possible.
..."but they will still be able to use all other elements of the site."
This is not good. 
With almost every interactive (message boards, forums, groups, etc.) site that has Members, email verification is always done first, and of course, obviously by clicking on a link sent to the corresponding e-mail addy before any posts/messages can be put through on the site by new members. Otherwise it's read-only!
@BeautifulBreeze There are many members who are active positive participants, but don't feel comfortable sharing contact information. I hope we continue to be a welcoming place to them, current and new!
@BeautifulBreeze "To start, the only privilege we will limit is profile pictures. The goal is to test this out and then start locking more privileges behind the email verifciation. This is a phase one and we will continue to learn and hear your feedback."
It doesn't sound like they're finished yet, I hope the end goal is to prevent spam accounts from posting.
@Laura
I am happy to here this and I will be happy to post on this in my Chats and in the chat room im a mod for that why we can get it done faster
I like this update! On the note of reducing spam, it may be helpful to have a view-only forum feature for unverified members, similar to a view-only group support room for guests entering member-only rooms. I hope this could be an incorporated feature in the future
Nothing happens when I click send verification email. It
@llychee even spam/junk? Have you tried searching emails from '7 cups'?
@MarshmaIIows yeah I
@MarshmaIIows Its not sending at all. It just seems like the buttons broken.
@llychee @bestvase7265 Hey there! Sorry that this has been an issue. apart from posting on this post, perhaps you guys would like to fill in a bug report.
Click here to go to the link for support and Feedback
click that, then go to the bottom of the page and click submit a support ticket and fill it in! Hopefully everything gets fixed. Remember to give all details!
@llyche
Ditto me to