twitter / twitter/communitynotes

Community Notes sign-up form marked as submitted before user actually submits form

Open
#302 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

Dominant language
Python
Stars
1.9k
Forks
350
Avg merge
6m
Merged PRs (30d)
2

Description

Describe the bug
I signed up for Community Notes almost one full year ago, but my application's status seems to be in limbo because of a bug in the sign-up form.

I followed the steps to sign up https://x.com/i/flow/join-birdwatch, but I got an error on the last step while selecting the default language because I accidentally pressed my browser's back button. The final step was never completed and the form was never submitted. But when I tried to re-initiate the sign-up process, the system indicated (and still indicates) that my request has already been received.

Basically, it seems as if the boolean/parameter tracking whether the Community Notes application was submitted is getting set as true before the application was actually submitted by the user. Since the application was never submitted by the user, the application is never processed by the system and passed on to the appropriate team for approval or rejection.

But since the user cannot initiate the sign-up process again, the ability to participate in Community Notes is in limbo.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

  1. Start the sign-up process for Community Notes at https://x.com/i/flow/join-birdwatch and click on the "Join Community Notes" button.
  2. Complete all steps up until the last page.
  3. Do NOT submit the form and close the tab/window.
  4. Access the sign-up page again at https://x.com/i/flow/join-birdwatch and click on the "Join Community Notes" button.
  5. Verify the system treats the form as submitted even though it was not actually submitted if presented with the message: "You’re signed up. We’ll send you a notification as soon as your account has been activated. Stay up to date by following at-CommunityNotes"

Expected behavior

  1. Since the sign-up form was never submitted, the user should be able to re-initiate the sign-up process from scratch.
  2. The sign-up form should track state better in the case of an interruption during the sign-up process like a flaky network connection, computer crash, or user error.

Screenshots
x-sign-up-screenshot

Environment
Initially accessed via Mozilla-based desktop browser.

Additional context
Since I haven't received any updates on my Community Notes activation for almost one full year, I just want to see if someone can check that my initial application isn't in a state of limbo because of that error on the last step. If it is, then please consider this a bug report as well.

I have also tried numerous times over the past year DM'ing the at-CommunityNotes and at-premium accounts and contacting support via e-mail, but I keep getting sent to other support channels in an endless cycle.

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the flow at https://x.com/i/flow/join-birdwatch, following the listed interruption steps and checking the submitted-status message. Trace where the Community Notes application state is recorded after the final-step interruption; done means an interrupted form can be restarted and only a completed submission produces the signed-up state.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
web-dev
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
30/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.