A user complains not being able to register

One of our clients complains about receiving an error message while trying to register as a new user in ConfTool.

What could be the problem and how can we solve it?

(A German version of this article is available.)

Please ask the user for the exact error message that appears on the registration page. The content of the error message usually explains the problem and helps you to solve it.

Already registered user

The user may have already registered before (for instance as an author who is now trying to register for participation) or he/she may already have an account created by the organizers (e.g. as a reviewer, PC member or chair). If the user tries to create a second account with the same e-mail address, he/she will receive a corresponding error message (see image 1).

• To verify this, please go to:
  Overview => User and Participant Management => List of All Users
  Use the search function to find out whether the user does already have an account.
  Please remember to consider deleted users, too, as they are kept in the database until being purged (see image 2).
• If you can find the user, please click on the name to see the user's details. You can use the link "Send Password to User" in the right-hand column to send the user name and a new password to this user (see image 3). Please also see: What happens when a user does not remember the username or the password?
• If you cannot find the user, he/she probably has not created a user account for this conference yet. In that case, ask the person to simply register new and create a new user account now. Please refer them to the following page: Helpful Hints for User Registration and Log-In

User log of ConfTool Pro

If you want to find out more, you can also search the user activity log of ConfTool Pro.

As administrator, please go to the page:
Overview => User and Participant Management => Browse System Log
… and then enter the name of the user that you are looking for.

You can also filter for failed login attempts by using the filters “Only Message Type” with the setting “login” and "Only Message/Error Level" with the setting "System Warning" (see image 4).
The log entries of unsuccessful attempts show why a log-in failed, e.g. "unknown user name" (see image 5).

Users might also have tried their e-mail address or their first or last name. It is therefore advisable to search for them, too.

To filter for failed registration attempts, please use the filters "Only Message Type" with the setting "register" and "Only Message/Error Level" with the setting "System Warning".

Data requirements when creating a new user account

To create a new user account in ConfTool, some data requirements must be met:

• The e-mail address must be valid. ConfTool does several tests to ensure that the person enters a valid address to avoid typos. The e-mail address will be used to contact the user about the event, the submission process, and the participant registration process.
• The e-mail address can only be used for one user account. It must not have already been used for another user account before.
• The user name has to consist of at least 2 characters, is case-sensitive and must be unique, i.e., no other ConfTool user may already be registered with the same user name.
• The password must meet several security requirements: It has to consist of at least 5 characters, is case-sensitive and has to contain at least one Latin character (a-z) and one number (0-9). Other requirements may apply depending on your security settings.
• The password must not be too simple, e.g. it must not be the same as the person’s name, not consist of repeated characters and not be found in a listing with the most common passwords.
• All fields marked with an asterisk (*) on the registration form must be completed and filled in correctly. Incorrect or empty fields are marked in red on the form (see image 6). Please note that administrative users can create user accounts in the backend without filling in all mandatory fields.