I'm writing an application to manage users. To avoid clutter, I want to create two tabs: Users and banned users, which is going to look like this:
What should I call users who are not banned?
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too soon on the answer selection..– AdesCommented Jan 27, 2015 at 9:49
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"Active" and "Banned"?– Steve JonesCommented Jan 27, 2015 at 11:25
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In a text I'd use "in good standing", but it doesn't sound like a good caption for a tab.– CodesInChaosCommented Jan 27, 2015 at 16:51
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5 Answers
I would call them Current Users.
With the context of Banned, it makes sense to me that the other tab would be non-banned users.
If you wanted a view that was all the users together, you could make a third option that read All Users.
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Good point. Not only that, but without the word 'Users' there somewhere you'd have no idea what the two options were referring to. So it'd end up as 'Unbanned and Banned'. (so, Unbanned and Banned what).– JonW ♦Commented Jan 26, 2015 at 16:18
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What if it's already clear from the content in the main page that toggle applies to users? Then an adjective opposed to banned might be clearer. @BDD, you say "it makes sense." Is there any evidence you can provide that it makes sense to users other than yourself? How would people know whether "Users" contained all users or just non-banned users? Commented Jan 26, 2015 at 16:57
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I see what you're saying @3nafish. I should have clarified. It makes sense to me. I guess in this case
Userscould mean all users. I've edited my answer accordingly.– BDDCommented Jan 26, 2015 at 17:20 -
"Current Users" could also include "Banned" technically... I would call it "Active Users".– AdesCommented Jan 27, 2015 at 9:30
I would call them either "Approved" or "Active". Both are one word just like "Banned" and each conveys the positivity of their status.
If pressed, I think I would lean toward "Approved" because you can have inactive approved users as well as active approved users.
Here are multiple examples that show both are widely used:
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=%22banned+user%22+%22active+user%22 https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=%22banned+user%22+%22approved+user%22
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Welcome to the site, @Inquisitive! Is there any source you can cite to support your answer? (How do you know that "Approved" or "Active" makes sense to people?) Also, you list two words, but only one can be used—which of the two should be used? Commented Jan 26, 2015 at 16:03
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@3nafish Why would yo not ask this same question to the answer from BDD? I ask because you are up for moderator election. Commented Jan 26, 2015 at 16:27
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1This makes more sense to me than the accepted answer. +1 I would have a title or heading us Users and then categories of Active and Banned. No I don't have source other than that makes sense to me. If I saw a buttons Users and Banned I would not be sure if users included the banned. Commented Jan 26, 2015 at 16:48
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@Blam, I asked here because Inquisitive's post came up in the review queue for new users. Thanks for pointing out the inconsistency. I've now added the question to BDD's post too. Commented Jan 26, 2015 at 16:57
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@ 3nafish - If I may, who posted my comment for review and why? Commented Jan 26, 2015 at 16:59
I use the "Active" status in my application to decipher the two. I'd recommend that you perform some quick method of user testing to get some hard data to drive your decision.
Based on this article on writing microcopy, the author states:
"...microcopy isn’t always obvious. Sometimes you have to hunt to find the right words. (or create an error notification service like I did) How to discover these hurdles? Talk to people!"
He also says:
"Don’t be deceived by the size of microcopy. It can make or break an interface."
It could be a fairly important decision. In light of this, you might consider running a quick test on something like usabilityhub.com or the like. I believe they have a free option if you volunteer to participate in other's tests (very quick).
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Have you found any evidence that the term "Active" makes sense to people? Commented Jan 26, 2015 at 15:06
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1I don't have any evidence to believe that it does not make sense to my users (no flow hang ups, drop-off rates, reported incidents, decreased usage, decreased log-ins, etc.); however, that "data" is soft at this point. I'll add this to my list of elements for user testing and report back.– JWMCCommented Jan 26, 2015 at 15:19
We've had this discussion, and we settled on Active.
Our deciding factor was that it's what Google uses on its services (attached image).
Also, "Current" is a stronger indicator of someone being on the site "right now" rather than just active on the site in general.
Whitelisted vs Blacklisted can be a good term...
