Email confirmation on Linode?

You need to write code for your site to do this (PHP or whatever). A Linode does not inherently help you or deny you doing this.

This is an application issue…not an infrastructure issue.

-- sw

It seems like you're referring to a double opt-in method, where a "Click Here to Confirm" style message is sent to users who sign up for your website or mailing list. The exact way to handle this would depend on how your subscriptions are handled on the backend. For example, if you're using Wordpress, you can use Wordpress forms to send confirmation emails out. You can then include a link to a confirmation page, where users who click the confirmation link are added to your subscription database and those who do not are not added. Depending on your content management system, there may be a plugin available that makes this process easy.

This is vague and of course it does not help.

This is django…not a platform like wordpress, joomla and the like…

Now, this is a common feature in all websites and we have Linode employees stating that they cannot help.

I was referred to Linode by Corey Schafer, whom I trust very much.

You, Linode people, do not even direct customers to other sources or offer any ideas.

You probably know less than I do…and I know close to nothing.

What would you guys do if you were in my place?

Would you not ask anybody?

Perhaps I should contact a palm reader.

So, what are you guys doing there?

No wonder so many new customers leave Linode.

I don't work for Linode. I write here as a volunteer. However, I've been a Linode customer for 6+ years.

You seem to be misinformed as to the service that Linode provides. That indicates to me that most of this is just baseless whinging by someone who's out of his league.

You write:

This is vague and of course it does not help.

Your question vague as well. Mind-reading is not in Linode's bag of tricks…nor mine. I don't recall ever reading about telepathy in Linode's offer or terms of service (I could be wrong about this though).

This is django…not a platform like wordpress, joomla and the like…

You didn't say that at the beginning. Had you stated that, some other kind soul with django expertise may have been able to answer your question. However, application expertise is not something you contracted for when you spun up your Linode…but then you probably knew that already…hence the baseless whinging comment.

Now, this is a common feature in all websites and we have Linode employees stating that they cannot help.

So what? I have a mail server that does all kinds of fancy spam filtering and tagging. Is that a "common feature" of mail servers? Maybe. However, I was under no illusion that Linode would help me develop any of this. I knew that when I started. You should have known the same about django as well.

I was referred to Linode by Corey Schafer, whom I trust very much.

Obviously, you didn't communicate your needs well to Mr. Schafer. If you had…and he's as smart/trustworthy as you say…he would have given you different advice.

You, Linode people, do not even direct customers to other sources or offer any ideas.

OK…here's one: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/topics/email
Here's another: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6367014/how-to-send-email-via-django

Total web search time…less than 1 second. How tough would that have been for you to do?

Note that the first link is to the django FM. Documentation is your friend. Having written software for more than 40 years, I can appreciate what a bore/chore it was for whatever poor schlub who wrote this to have to do it; to have likes of you not read it; and then complain about how crappy it was later.

You probably know less than I do…and I know close to nothing.

You should maybe find another line of work then…after you consult a good therapist about your entitlement issues.

What would you guys do if you were in my place?

Buy a book. Search the web. See above.

Would you not ask anybody?

Certainly… However, posting a vague question like I need to confirm the emails of new signups. How can you do that on Linode? is not very helpful to you, to the talented Linode staff and to volunteers like me (who give up their time to try to help).

Perhaps I should contact a palm reader.

I think a consultant in your application domain would be a lot more helpful.

So, what are you guys doing there?

Oh…I dunno… Howzabout providing the best VPS infrastructure on the planet for a reasonable price without unreasonable restrictions on what you can use your Linode to do. That's a pretty powerful value proposition (even if you don't understand it).

No wonder so many new customers leave Linode.

I may be going out on a limb here because I don't speak for Linode, but I would hazard a guess that they'd certainly be happy that you are gone. I know I would be (I worked in customer support once too).

The problem is that you don't know enough about what you are doing or trying to do to know that Linode provides infrastructure…period…not django expertise. Django expertise is left to the customer…and the customer's hirelings. If the customer doesn't have such expertise, Linode expects you (the customer) to acquire it by whatever means the customer has at his disposal.

As I said at the beginning, I'm a satisfied, long-term Linode customer. Linode certainly doesn't need my help to defend them but I felt compelled to respond to this idiotic attack.

You should take my advice and hire a consultant. I was writing computer programs before you were born and have probably forgotten more about software development and networking than you (by your own admission) probably ever knew. I don't know squat about django but, believe me or not, I know what I'm talking about…

If you're not happy, go elsewhere. It's capitalism. Linode will understand. It won't be personal. However, you should absolutely STOP posting tripe like this.

-- sw

Hi @parlamas

Linode is primarily an infrastructure provider, and since we don't access your Linode's internal configurations things like what you mentioned do fall outside of the scope of our Support. With that being said, we always want to help out as much as we can.

That's one of the reasons that we set up this Community Questions site. The combined knowledge of our staff and users is pretty staggering (I learn new things every day just by coming onto this site) and we wanted to create an environment where we could all interact and share that knowledge on topics that are a little outside the realm of what our Support can offer.

I did a little research on this for you on my own, and I do think that some of the links posted above are pretty good so I wanted to point them out again in the hopes that they'll be helpful to you.

To piggyback on what has already been provided, here's another I found on a blog about setting up and sending confirmation emails with Django:

Part II: How to Sign up User and Send confirmation Email in Django 2.1 and Python 3.6

I hope this is helpful, and we're always happy to provide as much assistance as we can. The best way of getting the best answers on here is by following the suggestions in this other post that one of my colleagues put together that I wanted to add:

Asking Better Questions

Who are you anonymous "stevewi?" If you are willing to provide your full name we can discuss this further…if not, save your flawed logic for yourself and the likes of you…who insist on knowing all the right answers but provide none…

Email confirmation for new signups is a common feature of websites. Linode itself has this feature as we all know. Yet, it has no practical information on how to do that.

There are people like me who do not know but want to know and willing to pay to know. In general, official documentations DO NOT help people like me with just basic knowledge on such matters because it is taken for granted that those who read them know enough to actually and practically put the code to work. Well, to a lot of people those documentations mean nothing.

It occurs to me then that since Linode is a serious player in the industry, which I intuitively attest to, why can it not provide this service for a fee or refer clients to third parties who can provide this knowledge?

Now, does this not make marketing sense?

The way it is now the pool of potential customers is limited dramatically to those who know how to do it themselves and those who do not care to have email confirmation for new signups, whose sites, in most cases, understandably are not going to last long or have a meaningful presence on the web.

In addition to all this, I've searched for answers and I have found a plethora of inquiries very similar to mine but no answers.

That means a lot of people have the problem I have and yet no one moves to accommodate their concerns.

Isn't that callous from a marketing and customer support point of you?

What is the customer support that you offer?

I am asking for customer support! Where is it?

I do have immediate plans to launch about 10 sites on Linode and I need step by step instructions on coding successful and unhindered email confirmation in django.

I need a tutorial that works…the kind Corey Schafer offers…can anyone out there offer that?

You misunderstand the proposition here… I'm a volunteer. I'm not getting paid to provide the answers you're probably charging someone for. Ergo, I am under no obligation to provide them to you. You're asking people here to do your job for you without making an attempt at doing it yourself. You want something of value in exchange for nothing.

You write:

Email confirmation for new signups is a common feature of websites. Linode itself has this feature as we all know. Yet, it has no practical information on how to do that.

Again, my response would be So what? You still don't get it.

You write:

It occurs to me then that since Linode is a serious player in the industry, which I intuitively attest to, why can it not provide this service for a fee or refer clients to third parties who can provide this knowledge?

This is not the business Linode is in. What you're asking for is not the service you're paying Linode to do for you. Did you look at the link that @rgerke posted? It seems quite extensive.

Besides, I said:

I don't know squat about django

You should probably ask Cory Shafer to help you out…or hire him as a consultant as I suggested.

-- sw

@parlamas What you're asking for here is development work, rather than support. With that in mind, and looking over your earlier comments in this thread, I suggest looking into our Professional Services team. They are experienced consultants that can assist with the software on your Linode. Working with Professional Services does include a price, though that would be the team here at Linode that would be able to directly assist you with any software related concerns.

There are many ways to accomplish that you're trying to accomplish if you're not interested in hiring a developer. Here are a couple of links that I found from a quick Google search that can get you started:

• Django registration with confirmation email
• django-simple-email-confirmation
• How to Create User Sign Up View

With regards to the other comments on this thread: we ask that everyone please keep it polite and solutions-oriented. This is a public forum to assist fellow members of the Linode Community and beyond in finding solutions to issues. Thanks to the assistance from several community members, staff and volunteers alike, the site has empowered many people in resolving their issues on their own.

As a reminder, all posts that come from Linode employees will have the "Linode Staff" marker next to the user name, just like rgerke's and mine do. Any other post is provided by a member of the community, sharing their knowledge in hopes of offering assistance.

@parlamas Please keep our Community Code of Conduct in mind when posting here. Specifically:

Be friendly and patient.

As has been stated already in this thread, this is a space for our community to ask and answer questions. If you're seeing performance issues related to our infrastructure (hardware, systems, networking, and services), then by all means reach out to Support for help. Keep in mind though, that this is the right place for questions regarding internal configuration, such as those you've been asking here, which are beyond the scope of our support.

Thanks.

If you feel being straightforward amounts to being unfriendly then, as it has been said, you are under no obligation to respond to my request for information. If you DO NOT have the answers DO NOT respond!

Also, respectfully, let us not play with words here.

In this context, what is the difference between support and development?

A lot of customers need support with regard to development.

What does support mean? Answer the calls?

It's no use answering the calls and say "we're sorry…blah…blah…"

That's no support but the shadow and a pretense of support.

I assume a lot of people have read what I have written and not one knows who or which company or which coding school, if there is one, sell such services.

No one has answered saying: "Look man, this person or this company can help you."

I find that very odd…don't you?

Do you guys have email confirmation for new signups in place on your site?

If yes, I need your knowledge. What else can I say?

Let us not mistake being straightforward with being disrespectful and unfriendly because I don't harbor any such feelings. I am just addressing and raising an issue that I am confident concerns a lot of people who need a respectable website.

all the best

Isidoros Parlamas

In this context, what is the difference between support and development?

Linode provides support for issues related to our infrastructure and services. Keep in mind that we offer unmanaged hosting solutions — this means that the applications and systems you choose to run on our platform are ultimately up to you. This is established in Section 4 of our Master Services Agreement, which you should absolutely review to get an understanding of what you're getting when you sign up for services with us.

A lot of customers need support with regard to development.

Yes, we've certainly found this to be the case. So, we established an in-house Professional Services team to do exactly this. If you're looking for direct assistance in setting up a particular configuration (like an email confirmation service that will work on your stack), you should reach out to them — they can handle pretty much anything.

What does support mean? Answer the calls?

We take great pride in the excellent customer service we offer (at no additional cost, to all of our customers). That includes answering phone calls 24/7, every day of the year. We focus on addressing service disruptions, but are glad to help come up with solutions for any questions you may have.

So yes, your characterization of what our support represents very much runs counter to our Community Code of Conduct. We're happy to answer questions or clarify things like what is supported vs unsupported, but while you're here, we ask that you communicate with consideration and respect.

"So yes, your characterization of what our support represents very much runs counter to our Community Code of Conduct. We're happy to answer questions or clarify things like what is supported vs unsupported, but while you're here, we ask that you communicate with consideration and respect."

You cannot accuse me of being disrespectful for referring to facts with their proper names. Exactly because I am fact-checking your claims should disqualify me from being disrespectful.

The so-called support you offer is just empty words. Truly speaking, the only support that your clients really need is coding support. The servers you run is your responsibility anyway, but what they need is coding support.

If you acknowledge that and offer real support you will be the FIRST company in this line of business to do so and the demand for your services will skyrocket.

What is happening now is a veiled "take-your-clients-hostage" situation that makes no sense. You are losing customers for no reason.

The whole industry is losing clients for just being short-sighted. There's hundreds of millions of people who would like to do what I want to do if they could only be told how to do it…but not even a finger is moved….why? Because they want to avoid competition.

Anyway, I didn't sign up to Linode to have my calls answered but to get answers and solutions and if that proves impossible I will have to leave Linode the same way I have left other companies until I find a way to do what I need to do. So much for your customer support…a lot of people feel like I do but it just has not occurred to them YET to voice their concerns.

I am going to try your PROFESIONAL SERVICES hoping that they can do better than "your excellent customer support."

all the best

Isidoros Parlamas

Dear bbigger and watrick

If you can help for a financial reward please contact me at parlamas@live.com

trying blockquote

The truth is I like Linode because I can smell the positive predisposition all around…I do want to help Linode become better…I mean it.

We appreciate the points you've raised, and we also appreciate the amount of thought and effort you've put into them. It's clear that you have grand ambitions for both your website and ours, and we're happy to have the opportunity to work together moving forward.

With that said, our Community Questions Site is not the platform through which we will likely commit to many of the changes you've mentioned, nor is it a place that we can guarantee support for questions about software that our Support team is unfamiliar with.

We encourage people to ask questions here frequently when we don't have the answer to a question, and we're trying to develop a tool through which users like yourself will be able to quickly find solutions to questions like the ones you've asked in this thread. If this post is any indicator, we still have some room to grow.

There is some good information in this thread, and that is how we'd prefer to keep it - informational. As I mentioned above, we do appreciate the feedback, but I'm hoping you'll understand when I ask that we keep this thread purely related to confirming email signups for your django application moving forward.

I welcome you to continue discussion regarding any further feedback through a ticket on your account via the Cloud Manager, or through the inbox we setup expressly for this purpose at feedback@linode.com.