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Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

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Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#131

Post by yloiseau »

lsc wrote: post #127
Locke1689 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, but we're discussing a specific domain, security, where I think "the user is always right" is often wrong. Requiring a user to memorize 10+ essentially random characters, for example, is an awful user experience, but it is required for security purposes.

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/06/write_down_you... Personally, I prefer keys (long, randomly-generated passwords stored in a file or device) to passwords, but I don't know of any reasonable way to authenticate to a webapp with a key.

foaf+ssl ? :)

Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#132

Post by drivebyacct2 »

codinghorror wrote: post #78
Simucal wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just be careful with your account in that state. Stackoverflow only knows your account by a cookie right now. You can't log into it from another machine or if you happen to clear your cookies you won't be able to log back in. So it is in your best interest to "solidify" your membership if you care about your account.

well, as long as you provide a valid email (we don't check) you can do an account recovery to reinstate your cookie via email. The main limitation of being unregistered is that you can't ever vote on anything -- but you DO accrue other non-voting privileges through reputation like regular users.

I have a post I made before I registered my account. How do I tie that post into my existing account now, or can I only "import" old posts during registration? That's a disappointment. :/

Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#133

Post by Flenser »

chc wrote: post #69
Simucal wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see why a non tech-savvy user would be confused by OpenID but I it surprises me how many programmers are confused by it. On the login page they list a bunch of common providers you can login with if you already have an account with them: Google, Yahoo, AOL, Facebook, etc. Click their icon, type in your credentials. If you don't have an account with one of those or don't wish to use them then it has a big regist…

You're making the same mistake as people who try to get programmers to fix their printer because programmers are "computer people." Competence with one technology does not confer instant familiarity with another — and however clear you might find OpenID, just the array of company logos alone is kind of overwhelming and highly unusual. Pretty much the opposite of "Don't make me think."

It can't be any harder than selecting your card type on the checkout page of every online store on the web.

Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#134

Post by dansingerman »

Quite an annoying article - creating conflict for the sake of it?

StackExchange and Quora are only very superficially similar. StackExchange is very specifically about asking questions that have definitive answers, and getting those answers.

Quora is a question-based social network discussion site.

Not the same thing at all.

Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#135

Post by bkhl »

spicyj wrote: post #89
codinghorror wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

well, as long as you provide a valid email (we don't check) you can do an account recovery to reinstate your cookie via email. The main limitation of being unregistered is that you can't ever vote on anything -- but you DO accrue other non-voting privileges through reputation like regular users.

Why don't you let unregistered users vote?

SO probably doesn't want too many unregistered users floating around. Also, one of success metrics for an Q&A site is the number of registered users. So, it does make sense to force users to go through almost painless process of registering before they really start engaging in the site.

Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#136

Post by Stormbringer »

kmontrose wrote: post #63
jules wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happens if you clear your cookies?

There is a way to recover your account if your cookie is lost. http://stackoverflow.com/users/account-recovery (this is linked from /users/login) It does require that you provided a valid e-mail address at some point, which we don't require.

Having to do account recovery to recover the cookie is a perfectly valid technical response I guess. However since cookies are invisible, and account recovery is normally a big scary thing, it boils down to this:

(a) the end user has lost something invisible that they didn't even know they had

(b) the method of recovering the invisible token is to go to what is probably the last place they are going to look

a + b = full retard

// and you should never go full retard

Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#137

Post by jdap »

StackOverflow works beautifully - it's hit that "this just feels RIGHT" stage.

It's less clear right now that the StackExchange / Area51 model is working. The process of selecting topics, building support and getting going looks good on paper, but it looks as though it's lost a lot of momentum.

So the StackExchange team need to take seriously the issue that as things stand, the model of building out into new Q&A territories can't depend solely on people who are comfortable with SO (e.g. devs) and take that familiarity into another sphere (e.g. devs who also bake).

Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#138

Post by Locke1689 »

patio11 wrote: post #126
Locke1689 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With all due respect, I think you're completely wrong about this. I do not assume that most developers are competent. In fact, when it comes to security, I assume most developers are about two steps away from handing out root on request.

Speaking generally, I agree, competence is a risky assumption. It isn't risky about the SO devs: I've met some, they're sharp. They're certainly well-past sharp enough to get username/password working right. But OpenID is easy to screw up. Practically everyone has enormous problems with their implementations. (This goes seven times over for yours truly.) Which is (yet another) knock against choosing OpenID for anythi…

The implementation issues comprise a very good point. Do you think this is solvable by better libraries? I've been working on my own solid implementation of OpenID for Django to plug-n-play with the built-in authentication system. Can it be saved and, if not, what's the alternative? Teach developers about bcrypt?

Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#139

Post by carols10cents »

Flenser wrote: post #133
chc wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're making the same mistake as people who try to get programmers to fix their printer because programmers are "computer people." Competence with one technology does not confer instant familiarity with another — and however clear you might find OpenID, just the array of company logos alone is kind of overwhelming and highly unusual. Pretty much the opposite of "Don't make me think."

It can't be any harder than selecting your card type on the checkout page of every online store on the web.

Which is actually unnecessary since afaik you can tell what brand a card is from the first digit.

Re: Quora vs. StackExchange: Why, Joel, Why?

#140

Post by kayoone »

arethuza wrote: post #129
kayoone wrote: post #28

SO is a very successfull Site without all the koolaid, wich is great. Hell, the even run everything on Windows... On HN you would probably get beaten to death when saying something like that.

Argh - fat fingers, ipad, morning - downvoted by mistake!

np ;)
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