User account phone SMS linking

Developers and contributors can find a link to our github page and engage in development project planning here.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
kestasjk
Developer
Developer
Posts: 518
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2017 8:13 pm
Location: Perth, Australia
Karma: 775
Contact:

User account phone SMS linking

#1 Post by kestasjk » Sun Aug 21, 2022 12:53 pm

Hi,

A big focus right now is making the site less effort to moderate and as part of that we're trying to make it less effort to keep cheaters out and more effort for them to come back. We've got 3rd party social media authentication, user suspicion reporting and a couple of other improvements in the works, and we're adding user account to phone linking to that:
Screenshot 2022-08-21 204700.png
Screenshot 2022-08-21 204700.png (9.8 KiB) Viewed 2965 times
You can access this via Account > Site Settings; just enter your country's code and mobile number and the server will send you a text message with a code, enter that code in and your phone number will be associated with your account.

As with other features it doesn't do anything yet, the idea is to phase it in and ensure it's functions well for everyone and can be run in the long term sustainably.
It may be factored in as something to increase an account's cheater detection scoring, as an option to exclude players that haven't registered their phone, or even be made a mandatory requirement on account creation.

Let me know if you have any issues. I realize it's a bit unpolished in the UI but I'm mainly interested in any issues receiving messages in other countries or any trouble people have using it etc.

Rgds,
2

Demon Wings
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2022 9:40 pm
Karma: 2
Contact:

Re: User account phone SMS linking

#2 Post by Demon Wings » Mon Aug 22, 2022 10:12 pm

I am a returning old player trying to bring in a bunch of new people. We keep getting a "class 'libsms' not found" error when trying to make new accounts. It seems to be related to this.
2

captainmeme
Posts: 616
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 3:06 pm
Location: Manchester, UK
Karma: 767
Contact:

Re: User account phone SMS linking

#3 Post by captainmeme » Mon Aug 22, 2022 10:36 pm

Can confirm this happened to a player trying to create an account for Blitz today too:
Hi I am trying to create an account on webdiplomacy but I keep getting this error

Error triggered: A software exception was not caught: "Class 'libSMS' not found".

After I click the verification link for my email, I fill in the rest of the info and submit, and I get that error.
1

User avatar
Jamiet99uk
Posts: 29454
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2017 11:42 pm
Location: Durham, UK
Karma: 18257
Contact:

Re: User account phone SMS linking

#4 Post by Jamiet99uk » Thu Sep 08, 2022 12:56 am

Did this get fixed, or what?
There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen. - Lenin.

User avatar
kestasjk
Developer
Developer
Posts: 518
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2017 8:13 pm
Location: Perth, Australia
Karma: 775
Contact:

Re: User account phone SMS linking

#5 Post by kestasjk » Sat Sep 10, 2022 1:10 pm

Yep sorry it’s fixed, didn’t see this thread thanks for pointing it out.
Note it had been fixed I believe a day or so ago, it’ll be in the GitHub logs if you want to check exactly. I was notified previously, but do appreciate you saying you noticed it also.

I’m interested whether people think perhaps we should make mobile numbers the main unique token instead of e-mail?
1

User avatar
kestasjk
Developer
Developer
Posts: 518
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2017 8:13 pm
Location: Perth, Australia
Karma: 775
Contact:

Re: User account phone SMS linking

#6 Post by kestasjk » Sat Sep 10, 2022 1:12 pm

Looking forward to doing some more work on this next week, really trying to emphasise reducing mod time requirements, I think that is the number one issue at the moment.
1

captainmeme
Posts: 616
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 3:06 pm
Location: Manchester, UK
Karma: 767
Contact:

Re: User account phone SMS linking

#7 Post by captainmeme » Sun Sep 11, 2022 12:54 am

I'd shy away from using SMS as the main token... not sure if its just me but when I stumble on a new site I'm usually fine giving my email as a login but my phone number is a step too far. If its a place I trust I'll enable 2FA but if I have to make that call while setting up my account on a fairly niche website, I'd probably just not make an account and go elsewhere.

It'd help moderation for sure but I'm not sure it's worth it.
4

oldrubby
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2022 1:35 am
Karma: 2

Re: User account phone SMS linking

#8 Post by oldrubby » Sun Sep 11, 2022 6:07 pm

I am a new user (on my third game). I agree completely that email should continue as the main token. I would almost certainly decline to join a site that requires my Phone # as a condition of membership.
That said, I am enjoying playing the game again (after many many years) and now that I am more familiar with the online aspects and requirements, have only one little bugaboo: I would like to be notified by either SMS or email whenever a game I am involved in progresses. From what I have observed, the progressions are predictable for Spring and Fall, but builds and retreats progress shortly after all the required orders have been submitted. It would be great to know this so one does not have to constantly check the site. Perhaps this is already possible? Please let me know if it is.
2

User avatar
kestasjk
Developer
Developer
Posts: 518
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2017 8:13 pm
Location: Perth, Australia
Karma: 775
Contact:

Re: User account phone SMS linking

#9 Post by kestasjk » Tue Sep 13, 2022 3:05 am

captainmeme wrote:
Sun Sep 11, 2022 12:54 am
I'd shy away from using SMS as the main token... not sure if its just me but when I stumble on a new site I'm usually fine giving my email as a login but my phone number is a step too far. If its a place I trust I'll enable 2FA but if I have to make that call while setting up my account on a fairly niche website, I'd probably just not make an account and go elsewhere.

It'd help moderation for sure but I'm not sure it's worth it.
Interesting I would’ve thought mods would be more on board with phones being mandatory.. hmm.. We’ll hold back on that then and make it an option to deny users without phones in games.

User avatar
kestasjk
Developer
Developer
Posts: 518
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2017 8:13 pm
Location: Perth, Australia
Karma: 775
Contact:

Re: User account phone SMS linking

#10 Post by kestasjk » Tue Sep 13, 2022 2:27 pm

oldrubby wrote:
Sun Sep 11, 2022 6:07 pm
I am a new user (on my third game). I agree completely that email should continue as the main token. I would almost certainly decline to join a site that requires my Phone # as a condition of membership.
That said, I am enjoying playing the game again (after many many years) and now that I am more familiar with the online aspects and requirements, have only one little bugaboo: I would like to be notified by either SMS or email whenever a game I am involved in progresses. From what I have observed, the progressions are predictable for Spring and Fall, but builds and retreats progress shortly after all the required orders have been submitted. It would be great to know this so one does not have to constantly check the site. Perhaps this is already possible? Please let me know if it is.
It’s doable but there’s currently not a feature for it. It has been suggested before, the problem is depending on the country an SMS can be say 20c, which means for a 7 player x 20 turn x 3 phase game you’re looking at over $50/game, and we just couldn’t sustain that.
E-mail is definitely more doable.

I’ve always wondered about those things you see where a website asks to send you notifications; I’ve never actually wanted that functionality from any site, but maybe for people opting in that might work, I’ll investigate that technology and see how it works.
Any other suggestions welcome, or if someone knows some dirt cheap SMS technology let me know. (We could use that at work too..)

User avatar
kestasjk
Developer
Developer
Posts: 518
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2017 8:13 pm
Location: Perth, Australia
Karma: 775
Contact:

Re: User account phone SMS linking

#11 Post by kestasjk » Wed Sep 14, 2022 11:15 am

https://web.dev/push-notifications-disp ... ification/

So something like this probably the most realistic way of us adding notifications in a sustainable way, I’ll have a play with this when I get a chance.

oldrubby
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2022 1:35 am
Karma: 2

Re: User account phone SMS linking

#12 Post by oldrubby » Thu Sep 15, 2022 1:57 pm

I think this would be helpful. It seems to me though, that an email would be simpler and would end up getting to all of a user's devices, irrespective of which device(s) were actually logged in to the website.

kestasjk_vesco
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Sep 15, 2022 3:42 am
Contact:

Re: User account phone SMS linking

#13 Post by kestasjk_vesco » Fri Sep 16, 2022 7:11 am

Yeah, good point.. Also looks like iPhones/iPads won't be able to use those web notifications until 2023

User avatar
Jamiet99uk
Posts: 29454
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2017 11:42 pm
Location: Durham, UK
Karma: 18257
Contact:

Re: User account phone SMS linking

#14 Post by Jamiet99uk » Fri Sep 16, 2022 5:43 pm

kestasjk_vesco wrote:
Fri Sep 16, 2022 7:11 am
Yeah, good point.. Also looks like iPhones/iPads won't be able to use those web notifications until 2023
Kestasjk_vesco?

Is this a multi-accounter immitating Kestas?
There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen. - Lenin.

User avatar
kestasjk
Developer
Developer
Posts: 518
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2017 8:13 pm
Location: Perth, Australia
Karma: 775
Contact:

Re: User account phone SMS linking

#15 Post by kestasjk » Fri Sep 16, 2022 9:00 pm

No no it's me, I think I was testing user registration at work after the SMS verification introduced a bug
2

User avatar
Jamiet99uk
Posts: 29454
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2017 11:42 pm
Location: Durham, UK
Karma: 18257
Contact:

Re: User account phone SMS linking

#16 Post by Jamiet99uk » Fri Sep 16, 2022 11:59 pm

Sure.

Ok.

Fine.
There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen. - Lenin.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 40 guests