List of user (or member) states in BeWelcome and their meaning
The previous description fo these states where here: http://www.bevolunteer.org/wiki/Different_status_for_members
BeWelcome currently employs an impressive list of different user/member states. We need to be clear in regard to them.
- What's their meaning?
- How can you get into this state and out of it?
- What should happen, if someone has the referring state and does a certain operation.
These are the 18 known user states, 15 of them we currently employ (see column "Status" in table "members"). In alphabetical order:
| Name | in use | grants access to profile | grants access to everything |
| Active | X | X | X |
| ActiveHidden | X | X | |
| AskToLeave | X | ||
| Banned | X | ||
| ChoiceInactive | X | ||
| CompletedPending | X | X | |
| DuplicateSigned | X | ||
| MailToConfirm | X | (by link/become Pending) | |
| NeedMore | X | ||
| OutOfRemind | X | ||
| PassedAway | X | ||
| Pending | X | X | |
| Rejected | X | ||
| Renamed | X | X | X |
| TakenOut | X | ||
| Sleeper | X | ||
| StopBoringMe | |||
| SuspendedBeta | ? | ? | |
These are some questions which need to be clarified in regard to every state:
- What's the meaning?
- How can you get into this state?
- How can you get out of this state?
- What should happen, if someone has this state and tries to log on?
- What should happen, if someone has this state and clicks on the link to confirm his candidacy to become a member of BeWelcome?
- Is the state obsolete and should be removed? How can we do it? (optional question)
- What special restrictions is a member subject to, if she's logged in (automatically or by intention) and has this state? (optional question)
It should be made clear, if we aren't sure (or even disbelieve), that the intended behaviour of the code is implemented yet.
1. Active
What's the meaning?
Normal state of a member.Typically reached, after someone applied for becoming a member (reached MailToConfirm), confirmed her candidacy (Pending) and is approved by the signup team (reaches Active).
How can you get into this state?
Normally, if you've been Pending and get approved. But as well from every other state, if a volunteer is willing to move you.
How can you get out of this state?
After misbehaviour or because of an explicit member request, a volunteer might move you to most of the other states (but not MailToConfirm and Pending).
The way a volunteer use to change this state is adminmandatory.php, it produce a log
A member can change his state to ChoiceInactive? or to AskToLeave? via the retire.php page
What should happen, if someone has this state and tries to log on?
She's logged on.
What should happen, if someone has this state and clicks on the link to confirm his candidacy to become a member of BeWelcome?
She should get a message, that she's already a member with all necessary rights. (steinwinde: I doubt this works on 6 January 2008 in trunk.)
2. ActiveHidden
(steinwinde 6 January 2008: This status isn't part of the test database, so I regard this state as being obsolete. Its use was described by Jean-Yves with these words: "this status is for Admin and some test profiles, the members with such status dont appears in the whoisonlune and are not searchable")
(jeanyves 8 January 2008 : this is a real used status they are several profile with it : teh admin one, some test profile which can run on real site like philipptest, I do confirm it is to be kept).
The purpose of ActiveHidden? is to avoid usual member to be polluted in their search by these very active profiles, + theses profile can have silly content
A profile with active hidden state cannot send mail to other profiles
3. AskToLeave
What's the meaning?
This member had asked to be removed from BeWelcome. Wish has been accepted.
When a member use the retire.php page he can set his profile to ChoiceInactive? (which is a temporary state, until he logs again), or choose to leave bewelcome, he his then set to AskToLeave?. He can't log in anymore and cant be contacted. His profile cannot be display for normal members.
How can you get into this state?
with retire.php
How can you get out of this state?
You can't.
What should happen, if someone has this state and tries to log on?
The member should get the same information everybody gets, who tries to login with an invalid username and password. jy : IMHO, there should be a message tellink that he has ask to leave bewelcome or something like : XXXX is no longer a memebr of bewelcome because he has left.
What should happen, if someone has this state and clicks on the link to confirm his candidacy to become a member of BeWelcome?
The member should get the same information everybody gets, who modified this link in a way, that it points to a non-existing account.
4. Banned
What's the meaning?
The member has been banned by the abuse team. A membership with this status doesn't allow its use. Nota this is different from rejected. A banned member has been a member and has done bad things
How can you get into this state?
You misuse your membership or your membership is intolerable for other good reasons (e.g. you're a well known criminal).
How can you get out of this state?
Convince one of the accepters or one in the abuse team, that there is some misunderstanding or injustice.
What should happen, if someone has this state and tries to log on?
See status Rejected. The message for banned member should IMHO be specific, if the password is teh right one the member should have a message telling him he was banned
What should happen, if someone has this state and clicks on the link to confirm his candidacy to become a member of BeWelcome?
See status Rejected.
Is the state obsolete and should be removed? How can we do it? (optional question)
(steinwinde 6 January 2008: This status should be replaced by Rejected.)
(jeanyves 8 January 2008: I uderstand it seems redudant, but look to the rejected definition, you will see it is different)
5. ChoiceInactive
What's the meaning?
The member doesn't want to remove her profile, but temporarily disable it. Not yet implemented, but should be discussed: Possibly the member can be found neither by searchmembers nor by any other means. She can't receive messages.
(jeanyves 8 January 2008: it is implemented and it worked with old BW, the search option must allow to tick "include inactive profiles"
How can you get into this state?
Ask the accepter team to disable your account. (steinwinde 6 January 2008: I doubt it's possible, but we could introduce an automatic way (checkbox, submit button) to reach and leave this state)
(jeanyves 8 January 2008: via retire.php)
How can you get out of this state?
Ask the accepter team to set your account to Active again. In the old BW mode this was automatic when the members try to log in again. He then has a message reminding him that he is no more inactive
What should happen, if someone has this state and tries to log on?
The member should get informed, that her profile is temporarily disabled and that she needs to inform the accepter team to become Active again.
(jeanyves 8 January 2008: no, I think the old BW way was teh right, he is logged in, his status change to Active and he has a message telling him he is now active again)
What should happen, if someone has this state and clicks on the link to confirm his candidacy to become a member of BeWelcome?
Again: The member should get informed, that her profile is temporarily disabled and that she needs to inform the accepter team to become Active again.
jy : some thinking needed, I forgetted this case in the old BW
6. CompletedPending
What's the meaning?
A member submitted her profile form, after she got into NeedMore.
jy : yes, this was the initial intent. It is a fact that after Needmore is completed the memberhip is set to "Pending" (old BW improved which was never done). I think that for accepter it make sense to allow to make a diff between Pending and CompletePending?, some people who have subscribe with silly identity might have completed with less obvious silly identity. This might need more checking.
How can you get into this state?
You had insufficient profile data and this was recognised by one of the accepters.
How can you get out of this state?
You correct your profile. (steinwinde 6 January 2008: How could an accepter know, that the member was e.g. Renamed?)
What should happen, if someone has this state and tries to log on?
See status Pending.
What should happen, if someone has this state and clicks on the link to confirm his candidacy to become a member of BeWelcome?
See status Pending.
Is the state obsolete and should be removed? How can we do it? (optional question)
The state is obsolete and should fully be replaced by Pending.
jy : unsure
7. DuplicateSigned
What's the meaning?
Status of a member, who has already another profile. A membership with this status doesn't allow its use.
How can you get into this state?
An accepter detects, that one real person uses two or more memberships. All memberships (in all sorts of state) but one are marked with DuplicateSigned then. Still to be realized: Automatically the member gets an e-mail informing her/him, that this membership is invalid for reasons of doubles.
jy : yes this is still to be realized, however two option sending mail automatically or not sending it. I am convicend that in some case members will not like to receive email. not a big deal however
How can you get out of this state?
You never get. This state is final.
What should happen, if someone has this state and tries to log on?
The member gets an information, that this profile is disabled for reasons of duplicates.
jy : not sure this is implemented, but yes it is a good idea
What should happen, if someone has this state and clicks on the link to confirm his candidacy to become a member of BeWelcome?
The same: The member gets an information, that this profile is disabled for reasons of duplicates.
(steinwinde: I suggest to cleanly remove this membership in database after a period of time, e.g. 6 months.)
8. MailToConfirm
What's the meaning?
First (basic) state after signup. A membership with this status allows limited use.
How can you get into this state?
Submit signup.
How can you get out of this state?
Click on the link in the confirmation e-mail.
What should happen, if someone has this state and tries to log on?
She should see a message, that she needs to confirm her candidacy by click in the confirmation e-mail.
(steinwinde: I doubt this works on 6 January 2008 in trunk.)
(jy : it works on January 8)
What should happen, if someone has this state and clicks on the link to confirm his candidacy to become a member of BeWelcome?
She should get the state Pending. See there.
9. NeedMore
What's the meaning?
A member in the state of Pending, Active. A membership with this status allows limited use.
How can you get into this state?
An accepter detects, that you need to provide more information to be able to use your membership.
How can you get out of this state?
You provide sufficient information in your profile. After providing these, you get into the state of Pending. Originally planned was: The member gets into the state of CompletedPending.
jy : exact
What should happen, if someone has this state and tries to log on?
See status Pending.
What should happen, if someone has this state and clicks on the link to confirm his candidacy to become a member of BeWelcome?
See status Pending.
Is the state obsolete and should be removed? How can we do it? (optional question)
(steinwinde 6 January 2008: Could this status be removed in favour of simply using Pending?) (jy : I guess you are speacking of complete pending)
What special restrictions is a member subject to, if she's logged in (automatically or by intention) and has this state? (optional question)
jy : He can oncly update his mandatory data (addresse, name) and may be edit his profile
10. OutOfRemind
What's the meaning?
jy : this state is foresseen for members who will have stay to long in MailToConfirm? or Needmore state. After a while they should be put in OutOfRemind? State
How can you get into this state?
You ignore all important post by volunteer teams. jy : yes : and some automatic thing change the status after a while
How can you get out of this state?
You inform the accepter and/or the abuser team, that you wish to become an active member again. jy : yes
What should happen, if someone has this state and tries to log on?
The member is informed, that she needs to answer to questions sent to her.
What should happen, if someone has this state and clicks on the link to confirm his candidacy to become a member of BeWelcome?
The member is informed, that she needs to answer to questions sent to her.
Is the state obsolete and should be removed? How can we do it? (optional question)
(steinwinde 6 January 2008: I suggest to remove this state in favour of Rejected. To simplify things a member not responding to any request, should be excluded from the club.)
11. PassedAway
What's the meaning?
This membership is disabled, because the member died. (Compare status TakenOut.) A membership with this status doesn't allow its use.
How can you get into this state?
Relatives or friends of you informed accepters, that you are dead.
How can you get out of this state?
See status after a volunteer action
What should happen, if someone has this state and tries to log on?
See status TakenOut.
jy : unfortunately this should never happen (execpt by another guy of course)
What should happen, if someone has this state and clicks on the link to confirm his candidacy to become a member of BeWelcome?
See status TakenOut.
Is the state obsolete and should be removed? How can we do it? (optional question)
This status should be removed and fully replaced by the status TakenOut.
12. Pending
What's the meaning?
Member is waiting for approval by the signup team. A membership with this status allows limited use.
How can you get into this state?
You click on a link in the confirmation e-mail, which you got after signup.
How can you get out of this state?
Signup team approves your candidacy, you get Active. But you also could get Rejected
What should happen, if someone has this state and tries to log on?
She should have the possibility to edit and add information in her profile. On the top of her profile she should see a message informing her, that her membership is pending. She shouldn't see any other menue items typically showed to an Active member (e. g. she shouldn't see the menu item "Comments") and (independently of that) she shouldn't have the possibility to use these areas (which needs to be take care for, even if the menu items aren't visible). (steinwinde: I'm sure it doesn't work on 8 January 2008 in trunk.)
jy : it works now
in addition this Pending member is able to upload his picture I think he should also allow to see his own profile and to acceess his preferences
philipp: the final status of long discussion about pending members is roughly summarized: she can use almost all parts of the site except: writing comments, sending messages (or only limited number), visit personal of others details as address ... (I or somebody else should add the exact result of the discussion, this is just from top of my head) jy : I am unsure about this final conclusion. This is however not of big importance, at least for me. in fact I don't care. The real reason, was a bit "commercial" "in BW (like in HC) only approved members can see your profile if you don't make it public"
What should happen, if someone has this state and clicks on the link to confirm his candidacy to become a member of BeWelcome?
The same as the thing happening, when this member logs on.
13. Rejected
What's the meaning?
The member is a troll or for other reasons not reliable. A membership with this status doesn't allow its use.
jy : yes, the difference with banned is that the member was rejected at signup, before he really start to use BW
How can you get into this state?
Typically an accepter recognises misuse of a membership after signup. Or later. because an accepter volunteer set this profile (via adminaccepter -which notify automatically the wannabe member- or via updtate mandatory)
How can you get out of this state?
Convince one of the accepters, that there is some misunderstanding or injustice.
What should happen, if someone has this state and tries to log on?
The user gets an error message, that her membership is rejected.
What should happen, if someone has this state and clicks on the link to confirm his candidacy to become a member of BeWelcome?
Again: The user gets an error message, that her membership is rejected.
14. Renamed
What's the meaning?
The user is Active, but once changed her username. That's the only difference to Active.
jy : the difference is that when a renamed member search for, its the final profile which is displayed. and example : try to search on BW for jyetcathy (which is at rename state) you will be forwarded to jeanyves
How can you get into this state?
Because an admin set it up with phpmyadmin
How can you get out of this state?
jy : It is a definitive state
What should happen, if someone has this state and tries to log on?
jy : he should be logged in but then "converted" to is final profile (it worked in old BW)
What should happen, if someone has this state and clicks on the link to confirm his candidacy to become a member of BeWelcome?
it shhould result in an error message
Is the state obsolete and should be removed? How can we do it? (optional question)
(steinwinde 6 January 2007: Do we really need this status besides Active? I suppose, we rarely need to know, that this member had another name before. But much more often we need to check just for a member being "Active". So the effort to check for Active is doubled while the effort for checking for an old name doesn't matter really.)
(jy : big discussion, the aim was able to manage exception, we decided to never make too much publicity about this to avoid everybody asking top rename his profile. This should be allow only under very specific condition, to see case by case by some volunteer team. Nota : I really whould have a Felix renamed to steinwinde since I never remind how to spell steinwinde ...)
15. TakenOut
What's the meaning?
For non-vicious reasons this profile was disabled. A membership with this status doesn't allow its use.
jy : this is not a sleeper state. This is similar to AskToLeave?, but was directly done by volunteer as member request (by mail, and not by member himself using retire.php)
How can you get into this state?
Still to be defined. A good reason possibly is: The member died.
jy : no, in this case it is PassedAway?
How can you get out of this state?
Contact an accepter and convince her, that you want to be an active member.
What should happen, if someone has this state and tries to log on?
The member gets informed, that her membership was disabled friendly and that she should inform the signup team to accept her as an active member again.
What should happen, if someone has this state and clicks on the link to confirm his candidacy to become a member of BeWelcome?
Again: The member gets informed, that her membership was disabled friendly and that she should inform the signup team to accept her as an active member again.
(steinwinde 6 January 2008: I suggest to cleanly remove this membership in database after a period of time, e.g. 3 years.)
(jy : yes, if the member has no comment no message , no forum, etc ..., I just say this because if someone signup again with the same username it can create some confusion (not technical since to link data we use IdMember? and not username))
16. Sleeper
What's the meaning?
For non-vicious reasons this profile was disabled. (Compare status TakenOut.) A membership with this status doesn't allow its use.
jy : this is for future, a Status member who have not logged since a while will take if they have not logged in after several reminder by mail.
How can you get into this state?
You're not active since a long time.
How can you get out of this state?
See status TakenOut.
What should happen, if someone has this state and tries to log on?
See status TakenOut.
What should happen, if someone has this state and clicks on the link to confirm his candidacy to become a member of BeWelcome?
See status TakenOut.
Is the state obsolete and should be removed? How can we do it? (optional question)
This status should be removed and fully replaced by the status TakenOut.
jy : It is different from takenout, and could be feel like an agression "we are kicking incactive people", some can be sleeper for good reason (like beeing in comatose for 6 month in the hospital ...)
17. StopBoringMe
(steinwinde 6 January 2008: This status isn't part of the test database, so I regard this state as being obsolete. Its use was described by Jean-Yves with these words: "this status is the status of a member who has been ask to confirm his mail but has answer StopBoringMe (because he changed his mind")
jy : not an obsolete status, but it is the one a member who don't want to confirm his mail anymore should have if he clicks on teh link Stoboring me. It worked with old BW.
philipp: shouldn't he simply be deleted in such a case? I don't see a need to keep a log for such members and to block usernames. jy : you are right
18. SuspendedBeta
(steinwinde 6 January 2008: This status isn't part of the test database, so I regard this state as being obsolete. Its use was described by Jean-Yves with these words: "this is a test status") jy : this is a test status
some ideas
philipp: I don't see a real need to keep detailed information about members that don't exist anymore for reasons other than abuse. To be honest we should not (and at least in germany) are not allowed to keep them in the database. Therefore I suggest to remove all the different kinds of "Taken out" "Ask to leave" "Stop Boring Me" "Passed Away" "Out of remind" and so on, remove all their profile data, and maybe other things (as comments they wrote and comments they got) from the database and store the username in a list of "invalid usenames". If you try to access such a profile you should be informed the the member doesnt exist anymore.
jy : after a delay, it is is mandatory to delete these data if the people ask for it. I think that in anyway, there is no real benefit to keep them (exepct username if they have been used for real) more than 6 month. In anyway, to delete the private data of a member :delete form memberstards where IdOwner?=the member and delete from cryptedfields where the same (keep the record in the members table to keep the username, or moved it to a deletedmembers table and check it at signup to avoid to reuse username)
