# Making the activation process a one step process rather than two
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/making-the-activation-process-a-one-step-process-rather-than-two/34984
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [October 27, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/making-the-activation-process-a-one-step-process-rather-than-two/34984 "2015-10-27T21:53:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mischief](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mischief)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/making-the-activation-process-a-one-step-process-rather-than-two/34984/1 "2015-10-27T21:53:11Z")
Continuing the discussion from [There was a problem sending another activation email. http: undefined - undefined](https://meta.discourse.org/t/there-was-a-problem-sending-another-activation-email-http-undefined-undefined/34964/5):
> [@There was a problem sending another activation email. http: undefined - undefined](https://meta.discourse.org/t/there-was-a-problem-sending-another-activation-email-http-undefined-undefined/34964/5):
>
> We’ve just relaunched a forum, switching over from other forum software and in the process we noticed that a small percentage of those who had moved hadn’t activated their accounts, so we thought we’d give them a helping hand by sending them a reminder to do so.
In the process of doing this I have just noticed that people are clicking on the link in the activation email (which takes them back to the activation page on Discourse), however from looking at my Mandrill click stats, it appears that many people don’t realise they have to click a second time on the activation page itself. Therefore a number of the accounts haven’t been activated.
Would it be possible to simplify this process to make it just a one click process (i.e. a click of the link in the email to activate their account)?
---
### Author:  [@cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cpradio)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/making-the-activation-process-a-one-step-process-rather-than-two/34984/2 "2015-10-27T21:54:29Z")
Did you for some reason re-style the button so it doesn’t look like a button anymore and thus they don’t click on it?
The two step process is important to help stop automated spam accounts.
---
### Author:  [@Mischief](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mischief)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/making-the-activation-process-a-one-step-process-rather-than-two/34984/3 "2015-10-27T22:32:37Z")
No, we haven’t made any changes to the button.
I’m encouraged by this:
> [@cpradio](#):
>
> The two step process is important to help stop automated spam accounts.
however I am a little concerned by the numbers of people who haven’t managed to complete the activation process.
---
### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2015, 10:35pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/making-the-activation-process-a-one-step-process-rather-than-two/34984/4 "2015-10-27T22:35:51Z")
> [@Mischief](#):
>
> No, we haven’t made any changes to the button.
And your version of Discourse is up-to-date?
AFAIK the button was recently restyled to look more like a button precisely to address the problem you are describing.
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2015, 11:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/making-the-activation-process-a-one-step-process-rather-than-two/34984/5 "2015-10-27T23:16:13Z")
Well, it wasn’t restyled – the copy was explicitly changed to say “Click Here”.
The styling ‘error’ was that @watchmanmonitor’s monitor was displaying light grey as pure white 😉
@Mischief not sure what to tell you, spam prevention requires a browser action with timer to make sure it’s a real human being activating that account. Sorry.
---
### Author:  [@anon82356247](https://meta.discourse.org/u/anon82356247)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2015, 2:12am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/making-the-activation-process-a-one-step-process-rather-than-two/34984/6 "2015-10-28T02:12:13Z")
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> The styling ‘error’ was that ~~@watchmanmonitor~~ @Barry\_Chertov’s monitor was displaying light grey as pure white
For the record, see correction above.
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2015, 2:19am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/making-the-activation-process-a-one-step-process-rather-than-two/34984/7 "2015-10-28T02:19:35Z")
Ah sorry @watchmanmonitor about this misattribution 😉 and thank you for the correction, Barry!
---
### Author:  [@Mischief](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mischief)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2015, 12:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/making-the-activation-process-a-one-step-process-rather-than-two/34984/8 "2015-10-28T12:33:25Z")
> [@Mittineague](#):
>
> And your version of Discourse is up-to-date?
yes totally up-to-date.
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> @Mischief not sure what to tell you, spam prevention requires a browser action with timer to make sure it’s a real human being activating that account. Sorry.
No problem - I can fully understand the need for the spam prevention techniques. We might though need to look at ways to increase the click through rate - maybe changes to either the email wording, or to the wording on the page to make it clearer that people need to take both actions.
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2015, 8:23pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/making-the-activation-process-a-one-step-process-rather-than-two/34984/9 "2015-10-28T20:23:56Z")
Good idea, it might be helpful to follow up directly with a few of the users this happened to. Perhaps we can improve that page in other ways based on what you hear back from those users.
---
### Author:  [@Mischief](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mischief)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 3:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/making-the-activation-process-a-one-step-process-rather-than-two/34984/10 "2015-11-16T15:21:49Z")
A user has just come back to me and said "when I copy and paste the link into my web I get a message which reads: ‘You cannot activate yet’
Any ideas?
---
### Author:  [@DeanMarkTaylor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/DeanMarkTaylor)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/making-the-activation-process-a-one-step-process-rather-than-two/34984/11 "2015-11-16T16:05:39Z")
> [@Mischief](#):
>
> ‘You cannot activate yet’
I had a quick look though the code, I couldn’t find an exact match that is output by Discourse. I might be missing something though.
However there are the following messages which seem pretty close:
```yml
not_activated: "You can't log in yet. We previously sent an activation email to you at {{sentTo}}. Please follow the instructions in that email to activate your account."
```
```plaintext
not_activated: "You can't log in yet. We sent an activation email to you. Please follow the instructions in the email to activate your account."
```
```plaintext
activate_email: "You're almost done! We sent an activation mail to %{email}. Please follow the instructions in the email to activate your account.
If it doesn't arrive, check your spam folder, or try to log in again to send another activation mail.
"
```
---
### Author:  [@chapoi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chapoi)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2025, 11:37am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/making-the-activation-process-a-one-step-process-rather-than-two/34984/12 "2025-12-04T11:37:05Z")