KGS Issue - Awkward Registration

    Keywords: Online Go

(Moved from KGS First Time User Experience:)

(Sebastian:) I had to log in a second time because I accidentally somehow logged me off (I think when I wanted to close a chat I must have closed the app.) If I had not done this I might have lost my account because, as it states, it's only kept for 24 hours if you don't use it.[1]

Tamsin: Your account name is only deleted if you don't log on within 24 hours of registering. Once you have made you first log on as a registered user, then the conditions become much less restrictive (i.e., you only need to log on once every 6 months to keep an account).

S: I know. The reason why I wrote this here is because it impacts the First Time user experience.

wms: Yes, users email about this sometimes. It does cause confusion. The problem is that often users mistype their email address, etc., so you end up with an account whose password has been lost. The 24 hour thing is just meant to clear these out quickly, so that the users can re-register with the same name (but hopefully a different email address!)

S: Oh, I see - it is actually meant to improve behaviour for beginners! I assume you wouldn't want to send the password that the user had entered because you're concerned about security? Hmm - how about if you enabled both passwords? You'd send out the mail with the backup password (with a little explanation), and when the user logs in the second time you disable the password that he didn't use. Would this be possible?

wms: When you press the "guest" button, the password input field is ignored. You can just leave it blank. I suppose I could let that become your password when you finally register, but I don't want to. The purpose of mailing the password is just to require that people receive email from KGS before they have a full registered account. There was trouble for a while, people (escapers mostly) would make a new registered account each time they connected. Forcing them to move email back and forth made setting up a new account enough work that it has cut this practice way, way, down, and also had the nice side effect that the email addresses on file on the server are accurate more often.

(Sebastian:) Good! Fighting escapers is indeed a worthy cause, so I am now convinced the functionality is best as it is. I only would propose the following cosmetic changes:

  • disable password entry for guest login
  • clarify the wording a bit, along the lines of:
    • A user doesn't really lose an account (besides, there isn't really much to be lost, it's basically just a name), but the name becomes available to anyone logging in as guest.
    • This is done for the user's conveniency, as described above.
    • You're only logged in as a guest now. If you want to use your account right away, you need to log off now.

Please bear with me if any of these are already stated. It's been a while since I first logged on, so I don't remember the exact wording.

Niobe? Is it possible to enter the sent password somewhere while logged on? When I registered, the Email came in an instant and I had to log off and log on again. Thats probably another precausion to fight escapers or probably I was just blind and there actually is a place to put the password, but I didn't find it and found it rather confusing to have to log off before I could register my account.

(Sebastian:) No, unfortunately there's no such place. (Or fortunately, if it means that you're not blind ;-) But it's a good idea - this would be a great improvement from the new user's perspective. I hope there's no internal program reason why CGoban2 has to shut down for this step.


Footnotes

[1] Modified this statement a bit, especially deleted "This seems overly restrictive to me". I hope Tamsin's reply still fits, though. Of course, by now I know that my statement was wrong, as I wrote above ("A user doesn't really lose an account").


This is a copy of the living page "KGS Issue - Awkward Registration" at Sensei's Library.
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