Upcoming changes to sign-up flow on the Stack Exchange network

Question

Over the last couple of months, we’ve conducted several experiments surrounding some changes to the sign-up flow on Stack Overflow, all of which we’ve successfully graduated in some fashion on Stack Overflow. The goal of these experiments was to optimize our current sign-up flow and encourage more users onto the platform. We’re now planning on rolling these changes out to the rest of the Stack Exchange network. This post highlights the upcoming changes that we’re planning on rolling out around mid-April, as well as some other changes we’re currently working on and are likely to roll out at some point after that.

Sign-up entry points will open a modal instead of directing users to the /users/signup page

This change essentially makes it so that we no longer have a /users/signup page as a part of the sign-up flow, and instead show the sign-up prompt as a modal on the same page the user was navigating.

Replace existing modal with an updated modal

When logged-out users try to take actions that require registration on a site, we currently show them a modal prompting them to register/log-in. Given the changes to the sign-up flow shown above, we’re updating that modal to match the new one too.

Header prompt replaced with Google one-tap

We’ll be removing the top banner currently shown to unregistered users on all sites. Instead, we will show a quick sign-up option as a smaller modal near the upper-right corner of the page, that allows users to sign-up using a Google account with a single click (assuming they’re logged in to that account on that browser). This is usually referred to as “Google one-tap.”

An exception to this is made for users navigating the site in private/incognito browser sessions, who’ll see a sign-up banner at the bottom of the page.

Removing some sign-up options

Additionally, and as you may have noticed from the new modal mock-ups, we’ll be removing some of the sign-up options that are currently available, given their low usage. The most notable removal here is the Facebook option, which will be removed from all sites. Essentially, from now on every site will allow for signing up using an email/password pair, as well as using a Google account. Stack Overflow and the international Stack Overflow sites will also allow for signing up using the GitHub option. All other options will be removed.

We’ve already communicated this change with the moderation teams from sites that have any other specific options, to let them know about this change. These moderators might notify those specific communities on their respective Meta sites about these changes as well.

To clarify: this change only applies to new accounts being created. Accounts that currently use any other options for logging in will still be able to do so, and we’re not planning on making any changes to that in the near future. If that’s ever on the table, we’ll be sure to communicate with you and the broader community well in advance.

Other future changes

OAuth modal

Currently, when users use a third-party log-in option, the sign-up/log-in process takes over the whole page, and once the log-in to the third-party provider is concluded, the page gets redirected to where the user started the sign-up/log-in process. We’re looking at making changes to that, so that that part of the process instead triggers a smaller, modal-like window to show up for the user to complete the process:

Profile setup prompt

Sometimes users just want to perform some action on the site, and a convoluted sign-up process may cause unnecessary friction for them. As such, and as a way to make sure the actual profile creation is as quick as possible, we’re also looking at removing some steps from it, and then prompting the user to complete them at a later stage, at their convenience. The main goal there is to ensure the user can get back to what prompted them to create an account as soon as possible, instead of making them jump through several hoops that might disrupt their flow. Clicking the prompt to complete the profile at a later time will take them to a screen that is similar to the one they would currently have to go through to complete the sign-up process.

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As we experimented with some of these on Stack Overflow, as mentioned above, we gave the mods there a heads-up in their chat room, but didn’t give the wider community notice of these. These are only likely to impact unregistered users, but after posting a similar notice to the Stack Moderators Team, we’re following the recommendation that the notice also be posted here on Meta Stack Exchange for transparency.

If you have any suggestions for further sign-up optimization work we haven’t covered here, please let us know in an answer below.

Answer 1

Instead, we will show […] “Google one-tap.” […] An exception to this is made for users navigating the site in private/incognito browser sessions, who’ll see a sign-up banner at the bottom of the page.

It's good that you're trying to respect the wishes of users who've signalled that they don't want to be tracked, but this feature tells Google about every Stack Overflow page load, and which domain it's on. (If you think this is benign: the accounts.google.com popup makes POST requests to play.google.com/log.) You should gate it behind cookie modal accept.

I'm a bit concerned that this will exacerbate the "your entire digital life is gated behind four companies, to be irrevocably lost when they ban you for something minor" problem. I'd suggest letting people know they can add other sign-in methods, at some point (perhaps with an inbox notification, after they've got some activity on the site).

The most notable removal here is the Facebook option, which will be removed from all sites

😏 I can't say I have much objection to this. (I'm still a bit sad about the loss of OpenID, but Launchpad OAuth for new accounts isn't a huge deal.)

Everything else seems like a good change. Thanks for the work.

Answer 2

It seems I'm possibly facing an issue related to this, as pointed out in my post at MSO: Being logged in with a Google account automatically recreates Stack account

The system is recreating an account for me without even confirming. Worse is that if you delete the account after the action is completed and a redirect happens, a new account is created immediately. It is very confusing and unintuitive. It's also a security issue as the account created takes my name for the account. So now suddenly an account with my real name is created. (As meanwhile I added my real name to that Google account in this case)

You need to revoke Google access in Google accounts management to stop this behavior, which is also not intuitive for most users.

Answer 3

Stack Overflow and the international Stack Overflow sites will also allow for signing up using the GitHub option. All other options will be removed.

This remains weird. I understood it as a testing thing, but at this point... Why not just allow it everywhere? Certainly plenty of folks reading other sites have GitHub accounts; certainly plenty of folks who've signed up on Stack Overflow have gone on to use other sites. So why restrict the use to Stack Overflow(s)?

Answer 4

Personalize your profile

Finish setting up your account by sharing more about yourself and (your) interests.

Complete your profile Maybe later

Can you add the word "your" before "interests"? I don't have a citation in the Stacks writing guide here but I think it sounds better.

Answer 5

bugstatus-completed

The "Log in with Google" and "Log in with Facebook" buttons no longer work:

Clicking them does... nothing. No error in console, no request in Network tab.

Answer 6

bug

The "Complete Registration" button no longer works. Furthermore, it is very user-hostile to remove the "Maybe later" button. DevTools has a 404 POSTing https://vi.stackexchange.com/user/discard-onboarding-prompt.

I got this ever since "Join this community"ing on Vim.SE. The "Personalize your profile" prompt should not be shown to users coming from elsewhere on SE. I have already decided, to the extent of my comfort level, that I desire my current display name and lack of profile picture! If you want us to see the tour, you can try another way that doesn't repeatedly criticize our profile. It is also misleading to say "for verifying your email address" since I wasn't asked to enter any email addresses recently, and that made me wonder if any malware stole it.

"Complete Registration" takes me to the tour but does not dismiss the "Personalize your profile" dialog. "Finish set up" does nothing but go to or refresh the screenshotted page, and that happens no matter if it's the original question I was browsing, the screenshotted page, or the tour. The X button ostensibly dismisses the dialog, but it reappears after refreshing or navigating to another page. The only workaround was adblocking ###onboarding-prompt-container.

This appears widespread across SE sites:

• Japanese.SE I joined 4 days ago, Vim.SE I joined yesterday, but not sites I joined months earlier, regardless if I gained more than 101 reputation
• SO @Ben

• Academia.SE @Nicola Sap

Answer 7

a smaller, modal-like window to show up for the user to complete the process:

Do you mean a popup? If so, please don't.

As annoying as popups are in general, my experience elseweb is that more often than not these actually end up as popunders (I assume the browser is mistaking what the site is doing as potentially malicious and rejecting the window focus change). I end up not noticing these right away most of the time starting a Why is the Login/Signup broken cycle of frustration that in the best case only ends after a few minutes when I've got several of them and the bloat on my taskbar becomes noticeable. If I was using a Mac or default Windows behavior where they're all grouped, the odds of my noticing them before giving up would likely be a lot less.

The other half of the time I end up giving up and don't notice the stale popunders until several hours or even a day later when I go to move a main browser window from one monitor to the next.

Answer 8

The main goal there is to ensure the user can get back to what prompted them to create an account as soon as possible, instead of making them jump through several hoops that might disrupt their flow. Clicking the prompt to complete the profile at a later time will take them to a screen that is similar to the one they would currently have to go through to complete the sign-up process.
_{emphasis mine}

This does not make sense to me. Why would clicking the button that you want to complete the profile at a later moment take you to the form for completing the profile? Or was there a slight mix-up in the text?