Steam keeps forgetting that I already verified my email

[Treadlight]

Every few months, I start to get this[cdn.discordapp.com] banner on my client once every time I launch it. This design feels intended, which is REALLY disconcerting. My biggest concern is that the Steam service itself flagged my account as "unverified" in the process. I need a way to get this to stop; Stop forgetting that I already verified my email. There is no reason to use this for users like myself. If there really is a legitimate reason for this behavior, then at least let me turn it off. How do I fix this, and if I can't, then Valve please fix it.
Several of my friends even have this issue just as I do.

[Halo]

all de mo j la

[JPMcMillen]

Every 6 or so months Steam requests each and every user to re-verify their email. This is because, in the past, way to many users would forget to update their email when their old one was no longer available and then get locked out of their Steam account somehow. Without access to that old email, they would then have to go through Steam Support, spend time (theirs and Valve's) proving that the account is theirs, so they could regain access to their account. So Valve decided that asking people to re-verify it every now and then would probably catch nearly everyone that would needed to update their email, which saves both the users and Steam Support the time wasted trying to recover someones account.

As for being able to turn this off... never going to happen. That's because too many Steam users have proven they can't be trusted to remember to update their email AND they will be the first ones to turn email verification off. So yes, the mistakes of the few do inconvience the many. But seriously, it's not that big a deal. You click the link in the Steam client, then when you next check your email, you click the link in the email, done.

[Treadlight]

Originally posted by JPMcMillen:

Every 6 or so months Steam requests each and every user to re-verify their email. This is because, in the past, way to many users would forget to update their email when their old one was no longer available and then get locked out of their Steam account somehow. Without access to that old email, they would then have to go through Steam Support, spend time (theirs and Valve's) proving that the account is theirs, so they could regain access to their account. So Valve decided that asking people to re-verify it every now and then would probably catch nearly everyone that would needed to update their email, which saves both the users and Steam Support the time wasted trying to recover someones account.

As for being able to turn this off... never going to happen. That's because too many Steam users have proven they can't be trusted to remember to update their email AND they will be the first ones to turn email verification off. So yes, the mistakes of the few do inconvience the many. But seriously, it's not that big a deal. You click the link in the Steam client, then when you next check your email, you click the link in the email, done.

1) The verification code sent by email expires rather quickly, and the Steam client prompts you for it as soon as they send the email.
2) I don't check my email compulsively, let alone more than once a month. The grand majority of the times I open my email are when I need to respond to something immediately. I'd rather keep my working memory working, you know?
3) Steam is the only service that does this. It is on Valve to realize why its bad practice to dehumanize their users, and for having a non-existent support staff that somehow complains about having to do their job.

The ultimate result of this behavior is that instead of having a lot of users who forget to update their email, you now have those same users forever living on unverified accounts in addition to forgetting to update their email just like before.

[JPMcMillen]

Originally posted by Treadlight:

1) The verification code sent by email expires rather quickly, and the Steam client prompts you for it as soon as they send the email.

It's at least good for a few hours. The last time I got it I clicked the link, then didn't check my email for a few hours while I was playing the game I opened up Steam to play

2) I don't check my email compulsively, let alone more than once a month. The grand majority of the times I open my email are when I need to respond to something immediately. I'd rather keep my working memory working, you know?

Well, then you are in a microscopic minority. Most people check their email at least a few times a day. And as you can expect to get the email after clicking the verification request, then you know there will be at least one email waiting for you to take care of

3) Steam is the only service that does this. It is on Valve to realize why its bad practice to dehumanize their users, and for having a non-existent support staff that somehow complains about having to do their job.

First off, WRONG. I deal with plenty of companies that will, from time to time, prompt me to verify and make sure that my email address is up to date. So in reality, what Valve is doing is a good practice that helps remind people that need to change their contact info that it needs to be taken care of. This also gives Steam Support the time to take care of real issues that users are having, not stuff that following a simple reminder could have prevented.

The ultimate result of this behavior is that instead of having a lot of users who forget to update their email, you now have those same users forever living on unverified accounts in addition to forgetting to update their email just like before.

Wrong again. Now when people see the notice and it has their old email, when they click 'no' it should take them to where they can update it immediately, and get a verification email sent to their new email address. Then they are good to go.

You see, when any company keeps getting the same support requests over and over, they are going to try and find a way to deal with that problem as it's costing both the company and their customers time trying to sort it out. In Valves case they decided that a simply asking people to re-verify their email every 6 months or so would eliminate most of the support requests and allow people to recover their accounts on their own. That's what smart businesses do.

[Treadlight]

Originally posted by JPMcMillen:

Well, then you are in a microscopic minority. Most people check their email at least a few times a day. And as you can expect to get the email after clicking the verification request, then you know there will be at least one email waiting for you to take care of

You cannot just try and make up statistics without a citation. I don't have the data either, but I can say I know from experience that while not being the majority, there are a lot more of us than you realize.

First off, WRONG. I deal with plenty of companies that will, from time to time, prompt me to verify and make sure that my email address is up to date. So in reality, what Valve is doing is a good practice that helps remind people that need to change their contact info that it needs to be taken care of. This also gives Steam Support the time to take care of real issues that users are having, not stuff that following a simple reminder could have prevented.

I thank you for this clarification backed up by experience. Although, I am sure that after being on Steam for so long, you must be aware of how bad Steam's support is? I've sent quite a few support tickets to numerous companies, and they always respond within 48 hours. Steam on the other hand, will simply just not respond at all unless you get really lucky. Even their primary competitor responds to all of my trivial queries.

Wrong again. Now when people see the notice and it has their old email, when they click 'no' it should take them to where they can update it immediately, and get a verification email sent to their new email address. Then they are good to go.

When designing UI, you absolutely cannot guarantee every user will use it the way you intended. Guide them as much as you want, the only way to get everyone to do it your way is to force them into it by removing every other option. Of course, I know that's exactly what Valve does already for their UI.

You see, when any company keeps getting the same support requests over and over, they are going to try and find a way to deal with that problem as it's costing both the company and their customers time trying to sort it out. In Valves case they decided that a simply asking people to re-verify their email every 6 months or so would eliminate most of the support requests and allow people to recover their accounts on their own. That's what smart businesses do.

I find it very odd that you seem to think I'm not aware of this, or that you didn't notice that my knowledge of this practice was the entire basis of my OP.

[JPMcMillen]

Originally posted by Treadlight:

When designing UI, you absolutely cannot guarantee every user will use it the way you intended. Guide them as much as you want, the only way to get everyone to do it your way is to force them into it by removing every other option. Of course, I know that's exactly what Valve does already for their UI

That's why the UI puts that nagging little bar at the top of the screen till you actually do it. And by taking people directly to where they can update their information, people tend to do it. They quickly put in their new email and Steam lets them know to expect a confirmation email to arrive shortly. And when people know an email is comming, they do tend to check it. It's only when you don't take them directly to where they need to go to update their information that people tend to not do it.

However, I have no idea what happens if you don't do it right away as I just click 'yes' right away then confim it the next time I check my email. But eventually blocking off someones access to Steam until they do this trivial task seems more a problem with the user, not with Valve. Everyone has to do this and Valve isn't going to make exceptions or treat anyone special who thinks they don't need ocassional reminders.

Even with them, the ocasional person is going to slip through because they changed emails after their last verification but didn't update it before the next one and somehow lost access to their account. So even this system isn't perfect, but has proven to eliminate most of the potential future support requests related to this problem.

[Treadlight]

Originally posted by JPMcMillen:

Originally posted by Treadlight:

When designing UI, you absolutely cannot guarantee every user will use it the way you intended. Guide them as much as you want, the only way to get everyone to do it your way is to force them into it by removing every other option. Of course, I know that's exactly what Valve does already for their UI

That's why the UI puts that nagging little bar at the top of the screen till you actually do it. And by taking people directly to where they can update their information, people tend to do it. They quickly put in their new email and Steam lets them know to expect a confirmation email to arrive shortly. And when people know an email is comming, they do tend to check it. It's only when you don't take them directly to where they need to go to update their information that people tend to not do it.

However, I have no idea what happens if you don't do it right away as I just click 'yes' right away then confim it the next time I check my email. But eventually blocking off someones access to Steam until they do this trivial task seems more a problem with the user, not with Valve. Everyone has to do this and Valve isn't going to make exceptions or treat anyone special who thinks they don't need ocassional reminders.

Even with them, the ocasional person is going to slip through because they changed emails after their last verification but didn't update it before the next one and somehow lost access to their account. So even this system isn't perfect, but has proven to eliminate most of the potential future support requests related to this problem.

It is strange, though. They let you ignore it, and your account still has full access to everything that would otherwise need email to be verified. There seems to be no effective difference between ignoring it and reverifying.

[JPMcMillen]

Originally posted by Treadlight:

It is strange, though. They let you ignore it, and your account still has full access to everything that would otherwise need email to be verified. There seems to be no effective difference between ignoring it and reverifying.

I've seen tons of posts from people who complain about the reminder bar because they just won't spend the few seconds to deal with it. And pretty much everyone tells them to just click yes and then click the link in the email and you're done. Then they won't see it again for several months.

But how long have you tried to ignore the confirmation? Maybe there is some point that if you have gone too long without dealing with it you will be forced to do it or not be able to access Steam.

[Treadlight]

Originally posted by JPMcMillen:

Originally posted by Treadlight:

It is strange, though. They let you ignore it, and your account still has full access to everything that would otherwise need email to be verified. There seems to be no effective difference between ignoring it and reverifying.

I've seen tons of posts from people who complain about the reminder bar because they just won't spend the few seconds to deal with it. And pretty much everyone tells them to just click yes and then click the link in the email and you're done. Then they won't see it again for several months.

But how long have you tried to ignore the confirmation? Maybe there is some point that if you have gone too long without dealing with it you will be forced to do it or not be able to access Steam.

I've confirmed it every time it came up since I installed Steam, and this is the first time I decided to actually do something about it. When it first ocurred, I figured it was some sort of bug and went through with it to make sure it wouldn't happen again. After however many years its been, I think I know what my stance on this thing is now.

[JPMcMillen]

Like it or not, it's there to help everyone remember to keep their information up to date. Like many things in life, it's one of those annoyances that we all have to deal with.