Last modified: 2013-11-10 00:37:06 UTC
[[Special:UserLogin]] is missing a link to signup form when user is logged in. This appears to be the intended behavior (per LoginForm#showCreateOrLoginLink), but is rather annoying when a logged-in user wants to create another account. This is rarely useful on Wikimedia wikis, which have a very open model (although even there sometimes it's useful to e.g. create account for user using banner IP range), but some third-party wikis use a more closed model where only site admins can create accounts – for them it's an important regression, as the previous form always had the link. (As reported on #mediawiki a few minutes ago.)
Change 80769 had a related patch set uploaded by Matmarex: Show signup link on Special:UserLogin when user is logged in https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/80769
The implementation of this, from looking at the patch and the associated screenshot, seems good. I think having this in core is probably a no brainer, for the reasons you cited. Is there going to be a config variable or other method to not show this on Wikimedia wikis? As you said, this is rarely useful on Wikimedia wikis, and might in fact confuse new people or encourage sockpuppetry.
(In reply to comment #2) > Is there going to be a config variable or other method to not show this on > Wikimedia wikis? I didn't add one in my patch, but I guess there could be one. It'd be easier to hide with CSS, though, in my patch the new link area has an unique id. > As you said, this is rarely useful on Wikimedia wikis, and > might in fact confuse new people or encourage sockpuppetry. Accounts created when logged in have the creator logged on [[Special:Log/newusers]], so I don't think there is a huge concern about sockpuppetry here, it'd only make it easier to discover socks. It might be a little confusing - but even showing the login form when you're already logged in is already confusing enough, adding the registration link is IMO only consistent with the "normal" form.
(In reply to comment #3) > (In reply to comment #2) > > Is there going to be a config variable or other method to not show this on > > Wikimedia wikis? > > I didn't add one in my patch, but I guess there could be one. It'd be easier > to > hide with CSS, though, in my patch the new link area has an unique id. > Okay. Adding S Page, since he may be able to help with either CSS or a config var.
Yes, login when you're logged in is strange, but it's not harmful to log in again and is useful on a shared computer. We hide the login / create account link(s) in the top left when logged in, so this fix only helps users who can get to the UserLogin page but can't get to Create account. That's somewhat plausible because Log in appears in Special:SpecialPages and Create account doesn't (a corollary of bug 15700). If we add "Create account" to Special:SpecialPages so people can find create account easily, can we leave this bug unfixed? Otherwise this behavior should be controlled by a settings variable, wgShowCreateAccountWhenLoggedIn.
(In reply to comment #5) > Log in appears in Special:SpecialPages and Create account > doesn't (a corollary of bug 15700). If we add "Create account" to > Special:SpecialPages so people can find create account easily, can we leave > this bug unfixed? Sounds sane, but that bug has been open since 2008. Are you going to fix it before 1.22 release? If not, I'd go with this solution. (In reply to comment #5) > Otherwise this behavior should be controlled by a settings variable, > wgShowCreateAccountWhenLoggedIn. I'm reluctant to adding more config variables. What's the rationale here?
(In reply to comment #6) > (In reply to comment #5) > > Log in appears in Special:SpecialPages and Create account > > doesn't (a corollary of bug 15700). If we add "Create account" to > > Special:SpecialPages so people can find create account easily, can we leave > > this bug unfixed? > > Sounds sane, but that bug has been open since 2008. Are you going to fix it > before 1.22 release? If not, I'd go with this solution. > > > (In reply to comment #5) > > Otherwise this behavior should be controlled by a settings variable, > > wgShowCreateAccountWhenLoggedIn. > > I'm reluctant to adding more config variables. What's the rationale here? To propose a rationale: hiding this element in CSS across hundreds of Wikimedia wikis seems an inelegant solution. There aren't actually that many ways to configure the contents of the login form. The other reasonable alternative here is to WONTFIX this bug, under the assumption that for the third party use case, where a wiki is locked down and requires an a sysop to create accounts for others, the sysops in question know how to find with CreateAccount page without this CTA.
I meant rationale for hiding this at all, not for the specific method. Why? I explained how it will be useful even on Wikimedia wikis.
There are only two kinds of users who view the form already logged in: * Those who know they are logged in, and intend to create another account. * Those who are not aware they are logged in successfully. For the first, they do not need a special button on login. These users are advanced enough to be able to find Special:CreateAccount aka Special:UserLogin/signup. For the second type of user, it is entirely possible they will be thoroughly confused by being presented with a signup button to create another account. They may not even realize they are logged in, and think that the button is prompting them to create another account because the previous attempt failed. Even with the appropriate text, e.g. "Create another account", it is very very unusual behavior to encourage new users to create secondary accounts for a website. This defies any normal mental model of when and why we would present account creation calls to action.
Okay, fair point. But in this case I think it'd be much more useful to replace the entire login form with text saying that you're already logged in and a logout link. Doing this would also solve the apparent confusion created by link to account creation. Does this sound sane? I'll implement it if it does.
(In reply to comment #10) > Okay, fair point. But in this case I think it'd be much more useful to > replace > the entire login form with text saying that you're already logged in and a > logout link. > > Doing this would also solve the apparent confusion created by link to account > creation. > > Does this sound sane? I'll implement it if it does. Yeah I think that seems sane. The current login behavior, where you're actually allowed to re-authenticate (or attempt to) even if you're logged in, is pretty weird. You may not even need to replace to the form, and instead just generate a message on the page, either statically on page load or when they attempt to log in.
I implemented this in my change on gerrit.
https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/80769/ needs review.
Change 80769 merged by jenkins-bot: Special:UserLogin UI improvements when user is logged in https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/80769
