mozilla/browserid — Issue #384: On the beer site, "If this is a mistake, cancel this email." doesn't? (leads to confusion)
Author: jbonacci
Created: 2011-10-10 02:34:47+00:00
State: open

Interesting new path through the UI to create a new account from the beer site.
The UI allows me to "cancel" an email verification through a link:
"If this is a mistake, cancel this email."
This, in effect, cancels the process and sends me back to the main Sign In screen.
This part of the functionality seems to work fine.

But, I still get the email verification in my Inbox.
My guess is that due to timing and network speed, trying to block the send would be almost impossible.
But, it could prove to be confusing, if
1. The user gets a lot of email
2. The user creates a new account again with the same email address and now has a second email verification in his/her Inbox.

The original email verification is still there in the Inbox.

Now, what happens if the user clicks on the old link?

Well, of course, I tried it, and I see this confusing message on a new Diresworb.org browser page (https://diresworb.org/verify_email_address):
"There was a problem with your signup link. Has this address already been registered?"
In addition, there is nothing else on that new page to give me a clue what to do!...

Well, obviously it hasn't already been registered because I cancelled it, but now I might get confused because I might think "wait, I must have already registered with this email. Oh, but wait, the beer site thinks it is a new account!..."

Catch 22

Now, if I am clever enough to know what just happened, I just enter the email again and go through the verification process again.
I click on the new link and I correctly get to the https://diresworb.org/verify_email_address site with the blank password fields.

This UI and/or logic needs to be fixed.