Hey all,
After a bit of work and some delays to make sure it works as best as possible, we now have Single Sign On (SSO) login for the forum! 
This means that your members.hacman.org.uk login now also signs you into the forum. This means one login goes much further and ties everything together. It’s one less login for everyone and means every member by default can setup an account here without having to enter duplicate information. This should encourage use of the forum.
If you’re already logged in you’ll stay logged in. If you aren’t, when you next log in, you’ll be sent to the membership system to login, and sent back here if/when authenticated.
Other than that nothing else has changed.
There are still improvements to make to the experience so any feedback is really welcome.
FAQ
Q: I had an account here but I’m not a member and not the membership system. I can’t log in with my old details. How do I log in?
A: Easy - click “Log In” and you’ll be taken to the login screen. From there you can create an “online only” account - it doesn’t mean you become a member nor do you have to input payment details, or address details. If you use the same email as you used before, the account is will synchronise up and you’ll be logged into your old account. For privacy reasons, you must verify your email in the membership system before you’ll be allowed to log in with SSO. If you have an online only account but later want to become a member, it’s easy to upgrade and this can be done self-serve.
Q: I am signed up with a different email on the forum than the membership system.
A: Worry not. I’ve spent some time checking for this and linking up known member accounts to the forum but if this didn’t work or I missed your account, you can either update your email on the membership system to match the one on the forum and it’ll magically link up, or if you don’t want to do that, log in and the forum will create a new account for you. Just let an admin or board member know and we can harmonise the account - any comments or posts made on the new account will be merged into your original account. From then on you’ll be logged into your old account.
Q: I get error code “2” when trying to log in
A: Verify your email. This is a privacy feature which requires all emails used to log in to be verified before you can use SSO systems.
Q: What about other systems
A: Hopefully, we can tie in other systems to SSO so your one login will work for everything
Q: How secure is it?
A: I have followed the Discourse Connect guidance and used the standard authentication method in the membership system. This uses Laravel and so is industry standard for security. If you’d like to see the source code shout out and I’ll be happy to show you.
Any questions or problems?
Reply below or email outreach@hacman.org.uk
Thanks!