Signing in with a code

Enter your email on the sign-in page and rifts.to sends a 6-digit code instead of a clickable link. Type the code back in and you're signed in. There's no password to create and nothing to remember between visits.

Why a code instead of a link

A one-time link sounds simpler, and it isn't the reason this changed. Corporate mail filters, Outlook Safe Links among them, open every link in an incoming message automatically to scan it for malware, before a person ever reads the email. A single-use sign-in link gets consumed by that scan. You'd open the email, click the link yourself moments later, and land on an error saying it had already been used, through no fault of your own.

A typed code doesn't have that problem. There's nothing in the email for a scanner to click, so the code is still good when you actually read it. It also travels better across devices: read the email on your phone, then type the digits into the laptop you actually want to be signed in on, instead of trying to open a link on the wrong screen.

What to expect

• The code is 6 digits and normally arrives within a minute or two.
• It expires 10 minutes after you request it. Past that, request a fresh code instead of retyping the old one.
• You get a limited number of attempts. Enter the wrong digits too many times and even the correct code stops working. That's deliberate: it's what keeps a six-digit code from being guessed by brute force.

If a code doesn't work

A wrong entry tells you how many attempts you have left, so one typo isn't a problem by itself: check the digits and try again. Once you run out of attempts, or more than 10 minutes have passed, request a new code rather than continuing to retry the old one. If the email with your code never showed up at all, see your code didn't arrive.

Signing in doesn't change how you create or run a poll; both still work with no account at all. What an account buys you is a place for your admin links to live, so a survey you made stays findable next week instead of depending on a browser tab staying open. See claiming a survey for how to attach one you already made, or lost your admin link if you didn't do that in time.