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Comment by avodonosov | Hacker News Reader

Why do we do email verification at all?

The only legit and practical reason on most web sites is to be able to restore access if you forgot the password.

So just near the password field we can have a "Restore options" section, with email, phone number, etc fields; each having a Test button.

If user have entered email address he can use the Test button and receive a confirmation email, with a link. When user clicks the link, we mark the email as confirmed in DB.

Also, as long as the user does not have a [tested] restore option, we can show him some indicator, like a small red circle on his profile symbol with a tooltip "no restore option configured".

Doing the test email in reverse for me personally would be annoying, because I do not have and do not want to have a configured email client.

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Most webapps have a need for transactional messaging of some sort. But even putting that aside you’re missing TOS support. Every TOS is going to have conditions that define scenarios where you need to communicate with users. Including changes to the terms of service ;-). Or for breaches of data, you’ll want/contractually need to communicate that to your users.

So yeah you could build different options for all of these things, and maybe snailmail users of these TOS occasions. But the system of doing this over email is so standardized that the possible friction of one-time setup pails in comparison to the alternatives.

Good point about TOS, that's indeed an important use case. However usually TOS declare that it is a responsibility of the user to keep up with changes. Good service providers also say they will make a reasonable effort to inform the user about the changes. So the TOS update notifications is not a complete blocker for my approach.

What do you mean by transactional messaging? Could you give an example?

Non-marketing emails from the company to push information to you while you’re out of the app. Think stuff like:

1. receipt / shipping notifications from an online shop 2. emails from enterprise chat apps that let you know you’ve missed messages 3. “Suspicious login” or similar notifications 4. prompts about billing if credit card is nearing expiration or a problem charging your account

Thank you

Many sites I work with use email to communicate information to a user that would otherwise require them to remain on the site to receive such notifications. Email forms an essential part of the workflow so ensuring that process works from first contact is critical.

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