XF 2.0 Approving new users - are we doing something wrong?

[RobParker]

So some of our admins are complaining that XF2 makes it far harder to approve new users. I assume they were just doing something wrong but now I think they have a point but wanted to check.

First off, they all considered the Approval Queue (index.php?approval-queue/) useless. It doesn't show you things like shared IPs so doesn't contain all the information they need.

Going into the ACP, I'm fairly sure that it used to be easy to check the users awaiting approval but I just tried and it seems to be a ridiculous number of separate clicks to get to the relevant info.

ACP login - users - search users - untick 6 of the 7 user state checkboxes - search - IP addresses Tab

That's 11 clicks to get to the information to show Shared IPs and then you still need to reject the user which is several more clicks.

Having played around with it a bit, from the approval queue on the front end it's only 5 clicks now:

Approval queue - username - settings -shared IPs - close

Is that the workflow most people use? It still seems a bit stupid burying the information away when the Shared IPs should be visible on the approval queue page (or at least 1 link away from it).

This might end up being a suggestion but I'm not sure if we're just missing something obvious.

 

[Chris D]

The approval queue for users used to be in the Admin CP. There used to be a link that took you there in the mod bar, so it was effectively the same number of clicks to access it but of course you'd a) have to be an admin and b) have to log in if you're not already, so effectively that would be more clicks.

So technically now it would be more clicks to view users awaiting approval in the Admin CP (because you'd have to use the user search) but also I'm not sure what the point of doing that would be as it's all on the front end.

In terms of it being "useless" I'm not sure I understand what they're expecting. The functionality is the same (actually, there's more functionality) as it was in XF1.

In terms of checking for shared IPs, what specifically are you checking for here? Is it just a general search to make sure it's not another valid user attempting to create a new account? If so, yeah, the process you mentioned of clicking username, menu, shared IPs is about the same. If it were still in the Admin CP as it was in XF1 then it would be clicking username, clicking IP addresses tab, clicking "More Users" next to each IP address you want to check (so technically a longer process).

If you're actually checking to see if the users share IP addresses with users who have already been banned, then that functionality is still there. It will display a spam log and the text: "Shared IP with banned/rejected user(s) x, y, z".

In terms of the "more functionality" that I mentioned earlier, this is probably the coolest thing:



Generally user registrations flagged by StopForumSpam are safe to reject as we do see very few false positives, but there's always that niggling doubt. As spammers are allowed to still access their account settings while pending approval (which is to allow users to modify their email address after registration in case they typed it wrong) you'd often find spammers would add spammy content to their profiles. We now show that directly in the approval queue and in this particular case there's now no doubt whatsoever that this user is a spammer, and they'll be spam cleaned as a result.

Hope that clears up a few things. My only other thought is whether you had any add-ons in XF 1.5 which might have cut down a few steps, but, realistically, I'm not sure it can get much easier than it is.

 

[RobParker]

Thanks, I'll feedback that to everyone and hopefully convince them.

My one immediate thought is displaying shared IPs directly on the page (or one link click to directly display them, rather than the current 4 clicks) would be a good improvement and presumably easy?

 

[Chris D]

Very easy yes, but very expensive performance wise. A link is probably a reasonable suggestion.

 

[RobParker]

A link is probably a reasonable suggestion.

Do you want a formal suggestion for that?

 

[Lukas W.]

Generally user registrations flagged by StopForumSpam are safe to reject as we do see very few false positives, but there's always that niggling doubt.

I can't share that experience. Stopforumspam has flagged a number of registrations on my board, but nearly all of them were due to their usernames being heavily generic and/or flagged. It might be the "curse" of a new board, with all the generic usernames still free to take, but none of them has proven to be a spammer, and all of them to be actual human beings with the intention to participate. So regarding that, my current experience lies at above 90% false positives. While I don't expect it to stay that way of course, I would say they're far from "safe to reject".