New users: error starting Discobot tutorial

Product Support

AI-generated summary

A discussion on the Meta Discourse forum addresses an issue where new users encountered an error when attempting to start the Discobot tutorial via a direct link on the About page. ToddZ initially believed the problem was due to PM restrictions set at trust_level_1, but HAWK clarified that the issue stemmed from the link bypassing the system’s logic that allows users to respond to PMs but not initiate them. The error occurred when new users clicked a direct link to send a message to Discobot, which required initiating a PM—something restricted for trust_level_0 users. HAWK confirmed that the tutorial works correctly when accessed through the notification panel, as intended. ToddZ acknowledged the misunderstanding and removed the problematic link, opting to rely on the built-in user tips for guiding new users.

1

EDIT – before anyone reads further: this problem was only with a link I’d added within text to start the Discobot tutorial via PM. I had created a conflict for user levels lacking permission to initiate PMs – but everyone can receive the tutorial PM from Discobot that appears in their notifications. I’ve deleted the unneeded link. Thanks to Hawk for helping me understand this.

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I learned that new users were getting an error when clicking “Send message” to begin the first step of the Discobot tutorial.

I’d had “personal message enabled groups” limiting PMs to trust_level_1 (which I believe I had changed from default.)

Updating this to trust_level_0 allows new users to start the tutorial:

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My question: shouldn’t the Discobot be accessible to any user, regardless of this PM setting? I’d still kind of like to restrict TL0 users from sending PMs to other users.

Is there a different setting elsewhere that I should have looked at instead?

2

I don’t think that’s actually the issue because that setting doesn’t stop people responding to existing messages. Our setting here on Meta is:

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…and new users can use the tutorial.

What error were they getting when they tried to respond before you changed it?

3

With PM limited to trust_level_1, this is the error I see for a new test user registered via Google login:

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4

Are you talking about forum.tasat.org? If so, I just signed up for a new account and have successfully responded to discobot.

5

I am, thank you. Did you get into the tutorial via the notifications panel?

I’ve just found that starting the tutorial from the notifications panel does work. The thing that leads to an error is the tutorial link on our About page, which I took from elsewhere on Meta:

/new-message?username=discobot&title=Discobot%20Tutorial&body=%40discobot%20start%20tutorial%0A%0AHit%20the%20%27Message%27%20button%20below%20to%20launch%20the%20basic%20tutorial%20with%20our%20chatbot.

On clicking “Send message” here, the error appears:

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Perhaps this link format/method is outdated..? Is there something else I could use here?

6

I clicked the green PM notification on my avatar, which is how we assume people generally find it.

Ah yeah – that’s the issue. That is bypassing the logic that allows people to respond to but not start a PM. I’d change that up on your About page to say something like “New users can get an interactive walk-through of forum features by clicking on the green notification on their avatar when they join” or similar. Alternatively, remove it altogether because the new user tips will guide them there automatically.

7

Thanks, Hawk – appreciate your time and responses!

I’d added that link early on because it seemed harmless, but I didn’t understand the implications of initiating a PM vs. responding to one. I’ve removed it & will rely on the user tips for now.