Implemented Growth Hack: Remove "Gender" and "Date of Birth" at Signup.

Minecraftly

Active member
When I first used a Xenforo forum many years ago (as a normal user), I hesitated to sign up because it requires my Gender and Date of Birth.

To me, it is a forum, not a social network (although both have many in common), but there's no reason for that to be required at signup. It makes more sense for it to be added if users want to in their own profile page.

One of the reasons some websites grow fast (DigitalOcean, Quora, etc..) is because they have a streamline signup page, asking for just username and passwords. Other details can be added later if user wants to, inside their own profilepage.

I hope that XenForo team would make this feature not shown up by default at registration in the next version. It'll boost signups, benefiting site owners and XenForo global statistics (market share) in general.

Thanks.
 
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Here are two add-ons which remove the Gender and Date of Birth questions during registration:

https://xenforo.com/community/resources/remove-gender.2433/

https://xenforo.com/community/resources/remove-date-of-birth.2849/
Thanks, I've used them in the past. Pretty interesting add ons. (Although it completely removes Gender option in profile editing page)

It isn't only me who have been wanting these features by default for years, it would be a great thing for XenForo team to consider it. Small and easy changes like this go a long way.
 
It isn't only me who have been wanting these features by default for years, it would be a great thing for XenForo team to consider it. Small and easy changes like this go a long way.

No, this creates a serious regression for sites that require it. I think it's perfectly fine to have options to remove it, but it should remain stock as-is.

At least for us, if someone can't be bothered to fill in the requested information, we probably don't want them there anyway. :)
 
No, this creates a serious regression for sites that require it. I think it's perfectly fine to have options to remove it, but it should remain stock as-is.

At least for us, if someone can't be bothered to fill in the requested information, we probably don't want them there anyway. :)

You got me wrong. If the option to remove it, also removes it on the registration page, then I'm perfectly fine with it. Currently, even if I uncheck the box in ACP, it still shows up in registration page (without the optional text next to it)

For me, the level of optimization I'll make for the registration page is whether someone is a robot or not, the rest can be filled out later.
 
To be honest with you, I don't see why giving our DOB would be harmful especially when you can fake it.
Also, I feel like knowing the age of people you are talking to is necessary to create bonds in a community. It's not just a nickname, it's also a person with an actual age, and gender. I really think it helps creating that feeling but it's just my opinion ^^'
 
It's almost incredible how some people can't empathize with different cases. Some boards are about serious topics like immigration, law, health. And the birthdate is one of the data who makes you very easy recognizable without having your real name. Is it really so difficult to see things with other eyes?
 
I know, thank you! But is this here not the part of the board which is asking for suggestions for xenforo itself?
For me it's very strange to install an add-on, to deactivate something so easy.
 
I know I am late to this, but I am learning a tough lesson currently based on niche that less is more. Having the option to disable things is a good thing regardless of how we feel about it. Sure, I might put in my info, but another person might not. I came across this in search because I am trying to anonymize my community more. Not everyone wants to put their stuff out there. I want to take the more Reddit-like approach of username and pass, no email or email confirmation. Can add email if they want the option to recover their account in the future. I like the streamline approach and I agree that less in some cases really is more.
 
Kind of missed this thread when going through suggestions implemented in XF2.

As it happens, in XF 2.0 we no longer have a gender field by default and the date of birth is only shown if it is set to required in the user registration options.
 
It's a bit strange that we can disable location and date of birth at registration, but can't disable them completely to remove them from user account details.

Same with user info and website. Would kind of expect those fields to appear under custom user fields and be editable or able to disable them there without having to resort to addons.
 
The only reason I might want the DOB to be required is for COPPA regulations. We're family friendly on the forums but still, we don't want to be responsible for collecting personal information on anyone protected by COPPA.

Otherwise, some members like entering it so they can be part of the birthday wishes. Having it optional is perfect for us. If members want to use it optionally, that's fine--we're not stopping them. Those that don't want to use it can ignore it. I don't see why I should remove it entirely if it's an optional field in the first place.
 
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