dw_suggestions | Entries tagged with site: accounts

Title:
Allow users to specify an account as a roleplaying account

Area:
accounts, statistics

Summary:
Allow users to specify an account for roleplay without affecting paid account services.

Description:
This is a suggestion mainly for statistical purposes! Dreamwidth has an active, sizable roleplaying community, a consequence of which is that there are a lot of "character accounts" scattered across the site. As someone who's very curious about DW's site statistics, I can't help but think that means there's a lot of essentially fictional data skewing things one way or another.

If possible, I'd like for roleplayers to be able to specify an account as being made for roleplay. It would have to be in a way that doesn't affect paid services, since some get paid/paid premium accounts and some don't. In addition to being able to choose it during account creation, there would also need to be an option for existing accounts to "switch over", since there are many, MANY existing character accounts.

Challenges involved: oh boy! I'm not at all familiar with site coding, especially Dreamwidth's, so I can't imagine how complicated this might be. I also don't know how many people would actually use this option, but I thought I'd throw this out there anyway.

Poll #18026 Allow users to specify an account as a roleplaying account

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 56

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This suggestion:

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Should be implemented as-is.
33 (58.9%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
1 (1.8%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
0 (0.0%)

(I have no opinion)
21 (37.5%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (1.8%)

pne

Title:
Page showing recently-purged usernames

Area:
newpage

Summary:
Create a new page showing purged usernames, as inspiration for people considering a rename.

Description:
LiveJournal has a page that shows purged usernames: http://www.livejournal.com/misc/expunged_list.bml

That page "is updated every day with new usernames that are up for grabs". There's a short list of usernames that became available in the last 24 hours and a big long list of random usernames that start with a particular letter or digit. You can then choose a different initial letter or digit, or click "See more random results" to get some more ideas. The order of the names on a given page seems to be roughly arbitrary.

It might be useful to have such a list on Dreamwidth, too, with similar features: show a list of usernames that are available for renaming to due to a purge.

The exact details might vary, but LiveJournal's implementation might be taken as a starting point.

Except that I'd like a bit more randomness if this is easily possible - when I first load the page (without applying a filter), I usually get names starting with "a0" or "a1"; a mix of "a0..a9, aa..az" would be nicer if this is easily possible. (Perhaps just a "select username from usertable where status = 'purged' limit 100" with no "order by" clause? Then for "see more random results", repeat the query with a "start at 101", "start at 201", etc.? Then they'd be in quasi-random order, presumably the order in which they were created.)

In http://dw-news.dreamwidth.org/31382.html?thread=3770518#cmt3770518, Denise said that purges happen comparatively rarely and the number of accounts that gets purged at each go is lower, so perhaps it's not quite as useful here as on LJ, but I wanted to suggest it anyway.

Perhaps one *can* find a nifty username from it!

Poll #8859 Page showing recently-purged usernames

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 84

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This suggestion:

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Should be implemented as-is.
35 (41.7%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
10 (11.9%)

(I have no opinion)
39 (46.4%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

denise

Title:
Support instructors/teachers/professors using DW for class-related projects

Area:
posting, communities, using DW to conquer the world

Summary:
We get at least three or four instructors per semester asking for promo codes for account creations for their classes (which we're always happy to give!) Since DW is so well-suited to keeping class journals, submitting writing assignments, or requiring class participation, I'd love to be able to code some more support for academic use.

Description:
Obviously each teacher's use of DW would be different, depending on the type of class they're teaching and the level at which they're teaching it (high school, undergrad, graduate work, adult enrichment, etc). This suggestion is less "we should add this" and more "we should brainstorm what we can add that would actually be most helpful".

I'm basically proposing a new category of accounts: "instructor accounts" or "academic accounts" and "student accounts" or "learner accounts" (names obviously subject to change, yadda). This will allow us to set different capabilities for these accounts.

The "academic package" would consist of:

* one promo code per class/class section;
* one "academic community" account per section, with slight changes to the standard community model to make them more appropriate for teacher/class interaction;
* one (or more if co-taught or if class has a TA) "instructor account" to be the admin of the community (or the instructor could use their standard DW account, but all of the instructors I know don't want their students finding their regular DW account!)
* a number of "student accounts" created via the promo code, where the students can choose their own usernames and migrate the student account to a standard account later if they'd like.

Things I can think of, off the top of my head:

* the ability for the instructor to "clear out" a community's posts and comments, moving them to some form of archive (essentially a community rename?) each semester/quarter/marking period/etc in order to store each semester's classwork separately and start each semester with a blank slate

* ability to force a student account created with a specific promo code to be subscribed to/a member of the community for the project, without having to check the checkbox during account creation

* ability to designate an instructor account for each "academic package" that will automatically subscribe to any account created from the promo code (so the instructor won't 'lose' students or have to get them to submit their username to the instructor through some other method)

* ability for the instructor to subscribe to all posts and comments made in the community (without the comm needing to be a paid community, I mean)

What other things would instructors using DW for academic/teaching purposes want to see, or would find useful?

(Edited to remove poll #7997, since this is more of an information-gathering entry than a suggestion!)

zaluzianskya

Title:
Allow new users to purchase purged usernames outright

Area:
journal creation, renames

Summary:
We can buy purged usernames now. This is awesome! But if you want to use a purged username for a new journal, you have to register a throwaway name and then rename that. Not so awesome.

Description:
Let's say you have a username you really like -- let's call it "loveandkittens". You really want to register "loveandkittens" for your new journal, but it's been deleted and purged! Luckily, Dreamwidth now has journal renaming, which is highly nifty. But in order to rename to "loveandkittens", you need a journal to actually rename.

So, you register a journal to rename. It can have whatever name you want -- if you're savvy about how renames work, you'll probably register something like "sldjcw982198nfckj", something no one would be likely to ever pick in the future. But, alas, not everyone is so savvy. A lot of users, especially new ones, would pick something like "hateandkittens", and then rename that to "loveandkittens". This, however, causes a problem if someone else wants to come along and register "hateandkittens" later on: It's either now a deleted and purged username, and the whole process starts aaaall over again, or it's a permanent redirect to "loveandkittens", which is even worse.

I'm not suggesting that we do away with having to pay for purged usernames; obviously, that's necessary. However, there should be a way for brand new journals to register these usernames without having to register a throwaway name first. They would be asked for payment up-front, and then some behind-the-scenes process would do whatever it has to do to move all of "loveandkittens"'s former activity over to "ex_loveandk123" so the new journal can be "loveandkittens". My suggestion is to register a journal with a username of the form "ex_123456789", and then apply the rename to it without the user ever seeing it.

And, obviously there'd have to be a link to some page explaining why you have to charge $15 for a brand new journal, and explaining that they're free to pick a different username instead if they don't want to fork out the money, but that's just standard for all rename-related shenanigans.

Poll #5132 Allow new users to purchase purged usernames outright

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 82

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This suggestion:

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Should be implemented as-is.
71 (86.6%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
0 (0.0%)

(I have no opinion)
10 (12.2%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (1.2%)

pseudomonas

Title:
Semi-emergency posting rights to other users to personal account.

Area:
posting

Summary:
I'd like to grant certain (trusted) DW users post-only access to my personal account for use in situations when I'm not easily able to post.

Description:
I have this occasional habit of going into hospital at short notice, where I may not have mobile signal or internet access, but very much want to get news to my circle explaining my situation.

I'd like to give a small number of DW (perhaps also OpenID) users rights to post to my personal DW account. I envisage that this could also be useful if I were incapacitated, arrested, or just travelling somewhere remote.

Ideally this would work very much like post-by-email - the users would:

a) be able to make posts, which would be made with privacy/crossposting settings I'd defined in advance.

b) be identified prominently at the bottom of each post ("posted by <user name=whoever> on behalf of <user name=pseudomonas>")

c) *not* have access to change settings, post comments or anything else in my name, read filters they'd not normally be allowed to read, or edit any posts. (That's already doable by giving them my DW password)

d) have an email go to me with post content and IP address, Just In Case someone's compromised their account.

This could also be accomplished by setting up post-by-mail and giving people the mail ~~password~~ PIN, but this would lack the footers, be not doable for many email addresses, and possibly be difficult for less-technical trusted users.

It could also be done by giving people your DW password, but I would rather not do that, personally.

The drawbacks would mainly be people potentially posting things the user didn't want them to, but since they wouldn't be able to impersonate anyone and the user would be getting notification emails, the practical-joke potential is rather limited. Any potential abuse is a social problem rather than a technical one.

Poll #5130 Semi-emergency posting rights to other users to personal account.

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 75

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This suggestion:

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Should be implemented as-is.
32 (42.7%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
7 (9.3%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
18 (24.0%)

(I have no opinion)
18 (24.0%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

stormy

Title:
Delete All Entries/Comments Upon Journal Deletion

Area:
Accounts, Entries

Summary:
Livejournal now features a ( delete all comments and posts ) option when a user chooses to delete their journal from Account Settings. It would be nice to see this option implemented on Dreamwidth.

Description:
On Dreamwidth, when users select to delete a non-community account, they should be given the option to delete all comments and community posts site-wide. Upon selection, the entries and comments are immediately removed from view, but I assume they're not fully removed from the database until the account is purged to prevent abuse in hacking/account theft incidences.

This feature has recently been implemented on Livejournal, and it's beneficial for several reasons.

1) It clears the servers of unneeded data once the journal is purged.

2) For privacy reasons, it gives users another option to effortlessly delete their content without affecting the content of another user, and without having to track down every entry and comment across the entirety of the site.

Poll #4241 Delete All Entries/Comments Upon Journal Deletion

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 71

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This suggestion:

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Should be implemented as-is.
20 (28.2%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
6 (8.5%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
34 (47.9%)

(I have no opinion)
10 (14.1%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (1.4%)

Updates

Expressed concerns:

It presents the option to someone who otherwise might not be looking for it.
It interferes with conversation across the site, leaving conversations disjointed.

Not implemented :

[Suggestion] The ability to search for every post you have made to a community without entering the community directly - something similar to the Recent Comments/Latest Posted Comments page.
[Suggestion][Suggested by Others] The ability to mass Orphan Comments/Entries posted outside of your own journals/communities, which detaches your identity to the content. I'm not sure how this would work, but someone else would have to suggest this.
[Suggestion][Suggested by Others] If a mass delete button were to be put in place, then textbox or checkbox capability for excluding certain journals and communities from the deletion of comments/entries.

On http://www.dreamwidth.org/editjournal :

[Suggestion] A delete button with confirmation for [Delete this Entry].
[Suggestion] Perhaps the option to mass delete would be located on this page, separate from the Delete Journal confirmation page to avoid clicking the option without fully reading over it and considering its consequences.

On http://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/recent_comments :

[Bug] A clearer visual of comments that are already deleted with grayed out text, or the [delete] changed to [deleted]. (Found on Bugzilla)
[Suggestion] The ability to go back through all comments ever posted (at present, the max is your 150 most recent comments). Or an ability to hide or separate deleted comments so that the list will keep expanding. (Found on Bugzilla)

Am I missing anything?

feathertail

Title:
Let people create reading lists before signing up

Area:
OpenID

Summary:
Reading lists are awesome, and so is having more readers / discussion on Dreamwidth. Let's give people a "free sample" cookie that lets them create their own reading list, to encourage them to sign up for an OpenID account. Then let's make the process of doing so -- and of converting that into a paying account -- easier.

Description:
As Dreamwidth's reading list gains features and usability (and its "memories" archive begins to encompass social bookmarking features), it's going to get more and more desirable. People could start to spend their whole web surfing sessions on Dreamwidth. So let's make it a selling point, and give out a free trial: Let's allow people to create their own reading lists before they've even signed up.

Imagine a Dreamwidth front page that has a big shiny button on it, something like "Start Reading Now!" or "Create Your Own Reading List!" Clicking on it could place a cookie with a list of everything that the person subscribes to (they probably couldn't join comms this way). You could leave the site and come back to it, and because the data's stored locally you'd still have your reading list intact. But until you actually signed up, there'd be a reminder that you need to do so. The navbar might be double-height, for instance, with a bright red section to remind people.

When you click on it, it'd take you to a VERY simplified sign-up sheet. Instead of asking for your "OpenID URL," it'd say something like "Enter the URL of your blog / journal / homepage!" with an example like "USERNAME.website.com". A quick blurb like "Verified using OpenID" could be there to let techies know what they're looking at, maybe with a link to click on so the curious could learn more.

If the person enters a URL that doesn't work, only then would it attempt to explain, and it'd portray this as a problem with the other site: "Either you didn't enter the URL correctly (try copying-and-pasting from your browser's address bar), or that site doesn't support OpenID authentication." It could briefly explain that "OpenID lets you use your account from one website to log in on others, including this one. Many websites support OpenID, including (brief optional list). Try another?"

Admittedly, this is not the ideal way to introduce people to this, but it seems the least error-prone for a world in which 1) Most people don't know what OpenID is, and 2) Most websites don't support OpenID.

One way we could possibly help people to get around it is to let them create a limited Dreamwidth account, if their first choice doesn't work. These could be a level of membership in which all you can do is comment and create reading lists. Alternately (or in addition to that), we could have a link to the full sign-up procedure. Newcomers to Dreamwidth might be more likely to jump through the hoops if they've already got some investment in the site, through finding feeds and/or journals they like.

Ideally, it would also be easy to "upgrade" your OpenID account, or link it to a full Dreamwidth account from either payment or invite code.

What do you think?

Poll #3193 Let people create reading lists before signing up

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 43

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This suggestion:

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Should be implemented as-is.
4 (9.3%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
3 (7.0%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
27 (62.8%)

(I have no opinion)
8 (18.6%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (2.3%)

cesy

Title:
Warning when deleting OpenIDs

Area:
openid, importing

Summary:
Add a warning when deleting OpenIDs, linking to a FAQ on OpenID and explaining the consequences clearly.

Description:
When someone deletes an OpenID account, give them a warning first which links to the FAQ, and explains how importing works, and that they would be ~~deleting comments~~* their friends have imported. Also explain what happens if the friend later re-imports their journal, including those comments.

This would help clarify for the cases where someone tried to delete their OpenID as soon as they got a full DW account, without realising what they were doing.

Edit: * Actually, not deleting comments, just leaving them with a strike-through in the username and meaning that the OpenID user couldn't access them. Possibly this illustrates the need for clarification ;)

Poll #1250 Warning when deleting OpenIDs

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 34

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This suggestion:

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Should be implemented as-is.
28 (82.4%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
1 (2.9%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
0 (0.0%)

(I have no opinion)
3 (8.8%)

(Other: please comment)
2 (5.9%)

bodhi

Title:
Email posting should be free

Area:
posting, email, pin, blogging, free, paid

Summary:
My apologies if this hasn't already been requested 6,392 times.. but truly the #1 obstacle for me getting attached to using this site is inability to use email posting as a free feature.

Description:
It may make sense from a let's hold off a feature to get people to buy phase, but considering that every single blogging site known to chimp and mankind provide this as a feature, and in today's fast mobile world, most of us wish to post on the go and perhaps edit "on desku" at leisure.

without this feature as free, i suspect many prospective trial users will just not get as hooked into DW.

OT: frankly I'm quite perplexed and disappointed here. I don't really get what DW is for - is this like GM's Saturn? Building a Better LiveJournal? Because it's not really doing that for me.

Sorry, and thanks for listening.

/regrets

Poll #1068 Email posting should be free

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 36

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This suggestion:

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Should be implemented as-is.
4 (11.1%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
1 (2.8%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
12 (33.3%)

(I have no opinion)
19 (52.8%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

cesy

Title:
Save entries when converting a journal to a community

Area:
communities

Summary:
Don't require entries to be deleted before converting a journal to a community

Description:
As susggested at http://community.livejournal.com/suggestions/870673.html

Ability to convert a journal to a community, but have posts made in that journal not deleted. Attribute those posts to the first maintainer of the community.

(http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=78&view=full describes the current process for converting a journal to a community, which involves deleting all the entries.)

Poll #1049 Save entries when converting a journal to a community

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 38

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This suggestion:

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Should be implemented as-is.
20 (52.6%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
11 (28.9%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
2 (5.3%)

(I have no opinion)
5 (13.2%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

jqp

Title:
Login to paid account with OpenID

Area:
Login

Summary:
I would like to use an OpenID URL and password to log in to my Dreamwidth paid account.

Description:
I have a paid Dreamwidth account. I also have an OpenID URL. I would like to use my OpenID URL and password to log in to my paid Dreamwidth account.

This would allow me to use my OpenID for its (as I understand it) intended purpose: de-cluttering my mind of username/password combinations.

Poll #927 Login to paid account with OpenID

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 39

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
4 (10.3%)

Should be implemented with changes.
1 (2.6%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
29 (74.4%)

(I have no opinion)
5 (12.8%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Dreamwidth Suggestions

Allow users to specify an account as a roleplaying account

Page showing recently-purged usernames

Support instructors/teachers/professors using DW for class-related projects

Allow new users to purchase purged usernames outright

Semi-emergency posting rights to other users to personal account.

Delete All Entries/Comments Upon Journal Deletion

Updates

Let people create reading lists before signing up

Warning when deleting OpenIDs

Email posting should be free

Save entries when converting a journal to a community

Login to paid account with OpenID

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