How to Require Email Verification in BuddyNext

How to require email verification in BuddyNext, step by step. Check that Email verification is on under BuddyNext, then Platform, then Features, then turn on Require email verification under BuddyNext, then Members, then Registration & Login and choose how strict it is: Restricted (a new member can look around but cannot post or comment until they confirm) or Full (they cannot use the community until they confirm). The link in the email lasts 48 hours and can be sent again. An administrator can confirm a member by hand from the member's edit screen.

Transcript

In this tutorial you will require email verification in BuddyNext. New members confirm their email address by clicking a link sent to it. You need BuddyNext, the free plugin, and a site that can send email. It takes about three minutes. There are five steps. Check the feature is on. Require it and set how strict. See what a new member sees. See the limit on posting. Then verify a member yourself. Step one. Check the feature is on. In your WordPress admin, open BuddyNext, then Platform, then Features, and find Email verification. It is on by default. This switch only makes the feature available. Turn it off, and the two settings in the next step are hidden. Step two. Require it and set how strict. Open Members, then Registration and Login, and find Require email verification. A new site starts with it off. Here it is on. Under it, choose how strictly to enforce it. Restricted lets a new member look around, but not post or comment, until they confirm. Full keeps them out of the community until they confirm. Restricted is the default, and the recommended one. Members who joined before you turned this on are treated as confirmed, and administrators are never held back. Step three. See what a new member sees. Right after sign-up, a new member lands on this page. It names the address the link was sent to. They open the email and click the link. The link works once, and expires in 48 hours. If the email did not arrive, they click Resend. A new link is sent, and the earlier one stops working. Step four. See the limit on posting. This site is set to Restricted, so the new member can read the feed and browse. Here they write a first post, and click Post. The post is not published. A message asks them to verify their email first, with a link, Resend verification email. Comments are refused the same way. A member can also ask for the email from Settings, then Account. The Email verification row has a Verify button. One thing to know. An account that is never confirmed, and has posted nothing, is deleted after seven days. Step five. Verify a member yourself. Sometimes the email never arrives. In your WordPress admin, open Members, then Directory, and open the member. Beside View profile is a button, Mark email verified. Click it, and the member counts as confirmed at once. Nobody has proved the address by opening a link, so use it only when you trust the address for another reason. A member who is already confirmed shows a badge there instead, Email verified. That is all five. The feature checked, verification required and its level set, the new member's page seen, the posting limit seen, and a member verified by hand. Every new account on your community now has a real inbox behind it. Next in this series: Turn on two-factor authentication.