def authenticate(self, request, identification, password=None, check_password=True):
        """
        Authenticates a user through the combination email/username with
        password.

        :param request:
            The authenticate() method of authentication backends requires
            request as the first positional argument from Django 2.1.

        :param identification:
            A string containing the username or e-mail of the user that is
            trying to authenticate.

        :password:
            Optional string containing the password for the user.

        :param check_password:
            Boolean that defines if the password should be checked for this
            user.  Always keep this ``True``. This is only used by userena at
            activation when a user opens a page with a secret hash.

        :return: The signed in :class:`User`.

        """
        User = get_user_model()
        try:
            django.core.validators.validate_email(identification)
            try: user = User.objects.get(email__iexact=identification)
            except User.DoesNotExist: return None
        except django.core.validators.ValidationError:
            try: user = User.objects.get(username__iexact=identification)
            except User.DoesNotExist: return None
        if check_password:
            if user.check_password(password):
                return user
            return None
        else: return user