Bug 31572 - E-mail and SMS verification
Summary: E-mail and SMS verification
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: Koha
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Patrons (show other bugs)
Version: 21.11
Hardware: All All
: P5 - low enhancement (vote)
Assignee: Bugs List
QA Contact: Testopia
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2022-09-15 19:07 UTC by Christopher Brannon
Modified: 2024-03-12 16:20 UTC (History)
12 users (show)

See Also:
Change sponsored?: ---
Patch complexity: ---
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Description Christopher Brannon 2022-09-15 19:07:59 UTC
I believe Koha has a basic level of e-mail verification with patrons that self register, but it would be helpful if there were a verification method for e-mail and SMS on both staff and patron sides.

The idea is, that when an e-mail address or SMS number is entered by staff or patron, there would be a button next to each that would say something like 'Verify'.  Staff or patron would click the button, and a link is sent to the e-mail address or number with an explanation (instantly, not through a queue).  If the patron clicks the link within a specified amount of time, the button next to that address or number goes away, replaced by the word 'Verified!'.

Until the number or address is verified, notices will not go through that method.  Notices would only go out through methods that are setup and verified.

A step further would be to have another button next to it on the staff side that would be something like 'Re-verification Request'.  If staff get bounced e-mails or texts, it would put the address or phone number back to a verification needed mode, and stop all notifications through that method until verified again.
Comment 1 Mwoo 2022-09-22 21:33:24 UTC
Love this idea! Maybe it would even help keep our emails from going to the spam folder.
Comment 2 David Cook 2024-01-01 23:05:01 UTC
(In reply to Mwoo from comment #1)
> Love this idea! Maybe it would even help keep our emails from going to the
> spam folder.

If your Koha emails are going to the user's spam folder, then your Koha is probably sending emails via a mail server that isn't really 'authorized' to use that email address.

I've noticed a lot of Koha staff admins configure Koha to use email addresses from their institutions, but this almost always requires additional work behind the scenes to get working correctly. (The exception being if the Koha staff admin have set up the SMTP server to be their institutional SMTP server.)
Comment 3 Christopher Brannon 2024-02-27 21:35:41 UTC
So, I've done a little research.  There are several email verification APIs out there.  One I've been looking at is https://verifalia.com/email-verification-api.  You can sign up for free and test up to 25 emails a day for free.  That is great for testing the api, and then you can pay to use the validator for day-to-day operations.  It would be great if we had a plugin that would allow you to use these api's.  Unfortunately, I can't just throw this in the patron edit form via jquery because of the script involved, but one of our keen developers out there might be able to come up with something.

This particular api, if incorporated into the patron edit form properly, would check the email addresses entered into any valid email field on the form.  If the email address doesn't have any issues, it will allow you to save the form.

This would be fantastic!  I would love to be able to test this, but someone would have to come up with a way of adding to Koha for testing.