Hi everyone,
I want to personally address Aaron’s previous forum post, High-Impact Bug in Default Gaia Hub and Remedies, which details a Blockstack storage bug that prevented 124 users from signing up the last couple of days to Misthos (an enterprise app built on Blockstack).
Let me first say that it is unacceptable for users to not be able to sign up for any products built on Blockstack as a result of issues with the Blockstack infrastructure. The Blockstack identity and auth system is designed to improve the overall user management experience and make it easier than ever for your users to sign up for and sign in to new apps - we have some work to do to deliver on this promise and we’re taking the necessary steps.
We’re making improvements to the Blockstack software, particularly around unit tests and end-to-end testing of the user experience. And it’s important to note that these improvements will be able to be utilized by other organizations that deploy their own instances of Gaia storage hubs and their own instances of the user onboarding experience with the Blockstack browser.
In the case of Misthos specifically, customers were trusting the app to safeguard and distribute their company crypto funds. Being unable to sign up for the service must have been not only frustrating but concerning. Although this was no fault of the Misthos team, it certainly had a negative impact on the first time impressions for new customers.
While bugs and mistakes are inevitable, they should be captured before the point at which you are signing up users. That’s why we are actively working to automate sign-up and account creation tests. Until that point, we will do daily manual tests of this flow.
We appreciate your support of Blockstack and we’re excited to partner with you to build the internet of the future and create great experiences for everyday users. We’ll keep making these improvements and will keep you updated as we roll them out. If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, you can tag us here on the forum or reach out to us on Slack anytime.