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
@Laura this is great!!!!!!! YAYAY!!!!!!!
I tried to verify my member account but whenever the site notifies me that the confirmation link has been sent, I check my mails and receive nothing! I tried to update my email adress, went to my spam inbox just in case 7 Cups mails are lost there, but no luck. I'm using my listener account to post this because without being verified, my member account doesn't have forum privileges.
When that happened to me, I used a fake e-mail address and 7 Cups verified that! Whether you can do the same depends on whether your mail provider allows you to create fake addresses.
@FinleyTews
@RarelyCharlie Thanks!
@Laura
Which brings us to how a bug on the system can channel people through a worrying method of solution...
"Verify email doesn't work -> No response through emails -> Can't post on Forum Thread made for Debugging Verification Problems -> Need to create another email to verify in order to access help -> User now has had to go through the motions of creating fake email address accounts and verifying them"
Which is what any normal person would have to do in order to access help, and the majority of people I think nothing would come of that, but it still directs people to have to do things that the whole purpose of this system is trying to avoid, which shows a flaw in the system that should really be addressed.
I mean, once I've done something for the first time, I become more confident in my ability to do it and more comfortable with doing it. Whether I do it again is a matter of choice but forcing people to have to resort to making new email addresses to get help is just breaking down the barriers you've created in the first place....
I digress. I'm just putting forward again the idea that this particular forum thread alone should be avaliable for UnVerified accounts to access and get help with verifying their accounts :)
Thanks for reading, Best wishes,
RedMeeko x
Making this thread special like that would be quite a lot of work, I suspect. Currently, I seem to be able to access the Support & Feedback page from a guest account and submit a bug report that way. And there is also the possibility of sending e-mail to community@7cups.com So I'm not sure that making this thread special would be worth it.
The elephant in the room, of course, is whether this "verification" of fake addresses has any benefit at all for the community. I chatted to a guest this morning, and to another guest yesterday, and as far as I know none of us came to any harm 
@RedMeeko
@RarelyCharlie
In that case, if its alot of work then its understandable. My concern was for the people who haven't been able to verify, however now that you've made this post with some instructions on it perhaps it can be clearer and hopefully will be less issues.
I'm not sure if you're talking about the forums or the chatrooms -- I myself don't really use the forums often -- But I frequent the chatrooms pretty much daily... Feel free to parouse Compassion Corner sometime, I hope this will clear up all but the most stubborn of "trolls" -- But only time will tell!
I fully accept what you say about the chatrooms. I never go there because of bad experiences when I first joined.
We can all hope that this deters some of the trolls, yes. I fear it won't have much effect, but let's see how it goes.
@RedMeeko
