Registering and login procedure for non technical end-users

[DanielGarneau]

I went on line with a PhpBB forum (currently 3.1.10) in May of last year. Over the course of time, there have been I'd say around 20 to 30 or so users that have been deterred from engaging the forum due to access complexity.

How do other forum software rate in terms of log-in and access complexity for users not technically oriented?

 

[LeadCrow]

The simplest login methods will be using an existing identity provider (google signin, facebook connect, steam...).

Its a 1-click process fetching all needed information to complete signup without the trouble of inputting them or a separate password for your site. Its handy on mobile since users are often already logged into those.

 

[DanielGarneau]

The simplest login methods will be using an existing identity provider (google signin, facebook connect, steam...).

Its a 1-click process fetching all needed information to complete signup without the trouble of inputting them or a separate password for your site. Its handy on mobile since users are often already logged into those.

Thank you LeadCrow. Your answer led me to post another thread: Login in to Forum through Social Media Accounts. Both questions are interelated.

However I still do wonder if the grass is greener with some of the other forums out there. I had assumed that Xenforo would be a lot better, but I don't really want to pay for my forum software, if I can avoid it, and I read a post lately where someone complained about the login procedure with even Xenforo, which I tend to perceive as one the most user-friendly forum software, judging from my user-experience at TAZ.

Thanks for whatever input anyone might wish to provide on this.

 

[Tracy Perry]

It doesn't get much easier than this. If they have problems with this then they will most likely have problems participating on a site.
Yes, it's a paid script (IPS) and it has profile completion ability built in (as an encouragement to complete them) but initial sign is is fairly well done.

 

[DanielGarneau]

It doesn't get much easier than this. If they have problems with this then they will most likely have problems participating on a site.
Yes, it's a paid script (IPS) and it has profile completion ability built in (as an encouragement to complete them) but initial sign is is fairly well done.

Hello Tracy, You say it is a paid script. What's the script's name? I mean, the product, or mod...?

 

[haqzore]

Hello Tracy, You say it is a paid script. What's the script's name? I mean, the product, or mod...?

https://invisioncommunity.com

 

[Tracy Perry]

Hello Tracy, You say it is a paid script. What's the script's name?

IPS
They've made many improvements in the signup process. XenForo is not bad either, but IPS seems to be a little more streamlined in the current version.

 

[Pete]

And yet, this is actually simpler than Facebook's signup. So I don't trust the "the setup is too complicated" argument as much as I should.

 

[DanielGarneau]

IPS
They've made many improvements in the signup process. XenForo is not bad either, but IPS seems to be a little more streamlined in the current version.

Tracy Perry, thank you. I'll look into it as soon as I can manage the time to review my whole signing in and login procedure, and of taking the necessary measures. In the meantime, I removed some of the steps that I required users to take for protecting my actual forum from automated spammers and the likes.

 

[DanielGarneau]

And yet, this is actually simpler than Facebook's signup. So I don't trust the "the setup is too complicated" argument as much as I should.

Hello Pete, I decided not to hold back any longer with whatever steps are required to take in order to make the login procedures easier on end-users.

 

[LeadCrow]

Asking users for less information before they can participate can also help. You could ask them later to 'complete their profile' (an option with IPB iinm).

 

[Ramses]

If they have problems with this then they will most likely have problems participating on a site

That's the point, if they are not able to complete a simple registration form, they mostly are also failing in additional tasks like posting, or they forget their password, etc. . In my experience they are time waster and no real asset to a community.

 

[haqzore]

That's the point, if they are not able to complete a simple registration form, they mostly are also failing in additional tasks like posting, or they forget their password, etc. . In my experience they are time waster and no real asset to a community.

We shouldn't be so quick to absolve ourselves as the cause of these issues.

Sometimes the onus is, and should be, on admins and developers to simplify and make things more user friendly.

 

[Ramses]

Sometimes the onus is, and should be, on admins and developers to simplify and make things more user friendly.

Sure, fully agree.

 

[MarkFL]

That's the point, if they are not able to complete a simple registration form, they mostly are also failing in additional tasks like posting, or they forget their password, etc. . In my experience they are time waster and no real asset to a community.

I've been kind of waiting for someone to point this out...a user unable to complete a registration form is going to have issues doing pretty much everything else. If they're that utterly incapable, I would rather they move on and become a problem for someone else. At some point, we should be within reason to expect of our users some bare minimum of ability to complete simple tasks. That's how I honestly feel, at any rate.

 

[LeadCrow]

You could be right if all forms of contributions to a forum an admin asks for and expects were equal. Users' ability to contribute in better ways improves over time, although it could remain asymmetric (users asking more than answering, taking more than giving, downloading rather than uploading...).

I feel it'd be a mistake turning away any user who found your site interesting enough to consider joining when they could've remained a passive visitor. They could become active years after signup, and even asking dumb questions around would be interesting outcomes of streamlining the signup process (interaction with other users helps fit in).

 

[haqzore]

You could be right if all forms of contributions to a forum an admin asks for and expects were equal. Users' ability to contribute in better ways improves over time, although it could remain asymmetric (users asking more than answering, taking more than giving, downloading rather than uploading...).

I feel it'd be a mistake turning away any user who found your site interesting enough to consider joining when they could've remained a passive visitor. They could become active years after signup, and even asking dumb questions around would be interesting outcomes of streamlining the signup process (interaction with other users helps fit in).

1000% agree.

 

[MarkFL]

You see, I've never understood the whole "registration is difficult" thing (with the exception of some difficult to read CAPTCHA schemes of the past). In most cases that I've seen, we're talking about coming up with a username, a password, and supplying an email address. You answer a simple question and/or click an "I am not a robot" checkbox, and you click to accept the rules. You wait some ten seconds or so for the email to arrive and you follow the confirmation link.

It requires roughly the same level of expertise as starting a new thread or sending a private message. While it may be possible that a user who finds these things difficult may at some point blossom into a contributing member of the community, it has been my experience that users who find navigating a forum to be difficult complain and moan and first, require time to be taken to hold their hand through rudimentary processes, and ultimately disappear even when treated with the utmost of patience. The problem isn't so much with the software, but with the user in such cases.

I'm not so desperate for users that I'm going to worry about catering to those who are too lazy to figure out how to type information into input fields and click submit buttons. I do agree that things should be user friendly, but at some point the users themselves bear some responsibility to figure out how things work.

 

[Tracy Perry]

we're talking about coming up with a username, a password, and supplying an email address. You answer a simple question and/or click an "I am not a robot" checkbox, and you click to accept the rules.

Actually, with XenForo (and some others I'm pretty sure) you can extend the login questions/input to exceed this. I know when I my XF site up (motorcycle related) it had more questions - like how long you had been a motorcycle rider, if you were a member of any of the "following" associations, etc. Many of those would run a promotion in the background allowing access to additional areas of the site.

That is one of the things I like about the IPS script as it encourages you to complete your profile AFTER the registration process has been done.

 

[MarkFL]

Yes, that's why I preceded the text you quoted with:

In most cases that I've seen,...

I also think it's best to allows users to complete their profile after the registration process, at their leisure. Give them time to recover, catch their breath, even convalesce, after the grueling Herculean task of forum registration.