Site in staff only mode. No need to show signup or login

General
1

For the past two days, the OpenAI Discourse forum has been in staff-only mode.

Only staff members and users with higher permissions can interact with the site; everyone else has read-only access.

Users visiting the site for the first time are greeted with:

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They may also see this message at the top of the page:

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And this notification may appear at the end of a topic:

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When a site is placed in staff-only mode, it would be helpful if these options were hidden from users who cannot use them. Leaving them visible is likely frustrating, particularly because users have no way to report the problem or ask for help through the forum.

3 Likes
2

I agree with this.

Are you able to log in? I’m asking since I am logged in there. If no one is able to log in or sign up, maybe that should be stated clearly on the banner too, that it’s currently not possible to log in/sign up?

I know the banner says “no further action needed from the users”, but in my experience not all users read everything or maybe not even understand it, because of the language barriers and the consequences could be changing passwords and maybe unnecessary contact to OpenAI Support regarding sign up and log in issues?

1 Like
3

No.

I click Log In and am taken to:

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I then enter my email address:

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Next, I click Skip the password; email me a login link, after which I am presented with:

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Since this is most likely a temporary issue, I do not plan to spend any more time trying to log in to the site.

2 Likes
4

Ah okay, I see.

I was able to log in with the link yesterday, but that was before the staff only mode.