Is it a bad idea to automatically login a user after their registration was flawlessly completed? A majority of all the websites I visit does not use this behavior, which is the reason for my question:
Is there any reason why a user should manually login after creating a new account at a site?
Answer
There are 2 reasons I can think of:
- Confirming an email address before letting them in.
- Making it slightly easier for a new user to set up their autofill username + password while their password is fresh in their mind.
If you don't care about their email address, then I would log them straight in. See reddit's sign up process, for example.
There are better alternatives if you want to confirm an email address:
Alternative 1:
- Have the new user enter only their email address when signing up
- Email them a link to sign in (which takes them right in, doesn't prompt for any details) together with a temporary password in case they can't use the link.
- Have them set a new password and complete whatever profile details you require, giving them an option at the same time to remember their login (i.e., set a cookie)
Alternative 2:
Even better, allow them to sign up with a Google/Facebook/Yahoo/etc. account, a la StackExchange.
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