Idea To Improve Steemit.com's Signup ProcesssteemCreated with Sketch.

in #utopian-io7 years ago

Currently, there are many people complaining that they are unable to signup to Steemit.com using the intended signup process. My own experience was that I signed up ok the first time, but every subsequent account that I attempted to create from my home internet connection failed. If I tried to sign up my friends or family from home then I encountered one of the following errors:

  • The SMS validation process got stuck in an infinite loop - never progressing on to the next stage of the signup.
  • The signup process would simply announce that I should wait for my account to be authorised, but weeks later it never was.

There was no obvious reason for these problems as I had used unique Email addresses and phone numbers as suggested - yet it was impossible for me to create new accounts. In the end I was forced to pay for some accounts using a 3rd party service.

The only explanation I have been given as to why this problem occurred is that the IP address is checked during the signup to make sure that it has never been used to create a previous account. There is therefore apparently a rule which says 'only one signup per IP address'. However, this is not documented anywhere during the signup process or in the FAQ. The result of this is that users feel lost, confused and simply conclude Steemit is broken.

If there is a deliberate rule in place to limit signups to 1 per IP address then this must be made clear to avoid user annoyance. Additionally, there must be increased communication between the system and the users to ensure that it is obvious what stage the user is up to in the signup process. When users attempt to sign in or sign up, having already previously tried to do so it would be helpful for them to be shown some kind of status notification that lets them know that their existing signup application is in process.

Additionally a link should be provided that users can use to find human help when the process fails - such as the help/support rooms in steemit chat. Currently the process feels incomplete and probably drives away large numbers of potential users every day.


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Use a vpn, yes 1 sign up per IP. I think they don't want to announce that; but I agree it's run many people into snags, that share a computer, router, etc.

https://steemit.com/steemit/@surfyogi/steemit-pointer-having-a-hard-time-getting-a-steemit-account

Thanks, yes a VPN would bypass the issue, but if no-one knows what the issue is then they aren't going to look for a fix. I really don't think that fixing this is a top priority and I'm not even sure it's a priority at all!

thanks for the contribution but kindly make the following correction according to the rules

Contributions MUST BE Informative and Narrative

The contribution must contain as much details as possible and have some graphical contents into it (videos, images, etc.). The length of the body of the contribution must be enough to give every possible detail about the submitted contribution. If this rule is not met, the contribution won't be submitted in Utopian. A moderator can request for changes before the contribution will be accepted.

If the issue here is a lack of image/video - the nature of the required change is not one which can easily be screen captured in a meaningful way. There are many bugs and changes that cannot be visually represented effectively or in a way that helps the description of the issue - I suggest changing the rule.

@ura-soul images help identify the issues and also make the post more visible. Contributions with 0 images will not be liked by the curating Utopian bot.

There are many cases where bugs and issues have no relevant image available and adding one would serve no purpose other than aesthetics for the post - I don't really understand how that is relevant to the value added to a software project on github, for example. I just posted about this here.

I read your post and replied @ura-soul . I don't know of any case where a bug cannot be represented in a picture. I have 11 years of experience as a developer and even if that was the case, there is a category for that, called Bug Hunting. This is the category for building ideas into projects. Images are required. The Utopian bot will vote with less power this contribution. Thanks

Well, although it's not a competition, I have over 20 years professional experience in software architecture and engineering. Here's an example - a framework exists that makes developer's jobs easier and contains numerous classes for specific functions. Amendments are imagined that will change the way some of the classes interact with each other that optimise certain processes. To explain the changes takes 5 minutes in text and developers can understand the changes easily and without any confusion just from reading the text. Why is there now a need for someone to be forced to find an image to represent the changes which may end up just being a generic image of a car speedo going 'fast' or something like that which serves no actual purpose in the context of the issue, but which is inserted just to get around the need to use an image?

If the image is there just for the aesthetic function of making posts look nice in the steemit/utopian UI then at least make that clear so that we can be sure it's ok just to spend 10 seconds putting a generic image in there.

That's what I am trying to do in your post @ura-soul if Steemit will allow me to comment without taking 2 years...

Ok, so just to be clear, are you confirming that the requirement is just for 'an' image - regardless of whether the image contains highly specific content that is relevant to the issue (such as a screenshot or diagram)?
So generic images are fine?

And no of course this is not a competition. I was just pointing out the fact that being a developer as well I don't see cases where images cannot be used. But I am giving a better reply on your post when Steemit will allow..

@ura-soul actually looks like the bot did not care at all for the missing images and gave you a very good vote :D This happened because the post length is bigger than average so the bot does not look for missing images if the body length is equal or bigger than average. Complains only if it is not like that ;)

Aha, ok - well, that sounds like a decently logical behavior - kudos to the bot and it's father ;)

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