"…encourage your users to enter stronger passwords." • Hacker News Board

Re: "…encourage your users to enter stronger passwords."

#21

Post by petercooper » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 5:50 PM UTC

knowtheory wrote: post #11

clothed to naked with just "1!aAA" :| What is with HN recently? I just do not understand why the uber-creep factor is out in force. Even if the image set is replaceable and you dont' have to use a naked lady, that is the default demo, and the stated objective of the site is Strong Password == Naked Lady. Aside from the blatant sexist targeting, this is trying to take advantage of entirely the wrong impulse. Associati…

Instead, the mechanism is, lets distribute pixel art of naked ladies to incentivize instead of teaching/demonstrating.

Do you take offense at the fake "flies" they stick into urinals to focus men's attention?

I suspect the "naked lady" (which looks nothing like the real deal - I know, I have a kid) isn't so much the point here as the ability of a changing graphic to play the role of the aforementioned fly. I prefer the "discounts" idea raised elsewhere in the thread though.. a discount's more use to me than a heavily pixellated "babe" ;-)

Re: "…encourage your users to enter stronger passwords."

#22

Post by tsycho » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 5:57 PM UTC

giberson wrote: post #7

Personally I love it, however I will never ever be able to employ it on our company website. However, the concept of incentivizing the password entry field has inspired me. Instead of something risqué like nudity, how about offering a coupon off your first order (works for a commerce or service based site). Ie, as they type, gradually increase a % from 1 to 5 (or higher, what ever you're willing to offer). IE, a prog…

That's a very smart idea. Even if you cannot give discounts, maybe you can give out free support, extra services (eg: extra storage for a Dropbox like service).

Re: "…encourage your users to enter stronger passwords."

#23

Post by BoppreH » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 5:57 PM UTC

knowtheory wrote: post #11

clothed to naked with just "1!aAA" :| What is with HN recently? I just do not understand why the uber-creep factor is out in force. Even if the image set is replaceable and you dont' have to use a naked lady, that is the default demo, and the stated objective of the site is Strong Password == Naked Lady. Aside from the blatant sexist targeting, this is trying to take advantage of entirely the wrong impulse. Associati…

"password" -> "This password would take 0.1 seconds to crack"

"betterpassword" -> "This password would take 15 seconds to crack"

"S89&;al(l_2z0Z¨" -> "This password would take 56 years to crack"

Security by fear?

Re: "…encourage your users to enter stronger passwords."

#24

Post by raganwald » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 5:59 PM UTC

petercooper wrote: post #20

rmc wrote: post #6

It assumes all your users want to see naked ladies.

Yeah, I'd much rather it revealed progressively more of an interesting algorithm implemented in C.

Thomas runs into George at the coffee shop. "Wow!" George says, "Wait 'til you hear what happened to me this morning. I was sitting here managing my adword spend when I noticed a babe giving me the eye. Webmistress type, you know, Macbook Air, deerstalker cap, and an 'I lost friends on the Death Star' tee shirt stretched over an impressive pair of melons."

Thomas nods.

"She gets up, grabs the bathroom key, and heads into the disabled/family bathroom. The one where you can get a lot of privacy. I use it to check on my Ashley Madison afilliate income. Anyhow, she stops at the door and gives me an unmistakable look. So I slip my laptop into my bag and follow her in."

Thomas licks his lips. George continues.

"The door closes. She pulls her shirt up over her head and I can see her breasts are bursting out of a lacy bra. She looks me straight in the eye and says the magic words: 'Take what you want.' So I did."

Thomas whistles in appreciation. "Good choice, the tee shirt was probably too small. So, have you got Parallels running on it yet?"

Re: "…encourage your users to enter stronger passwords."

#25

Post by city41 » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 6:01 PM UTC

aba_sababa wrote: post #9

This is cute, but personally, I've never been a fan of password character requirements. Laissez-faire, and all that...the Internet has no business telling me how to secure my profiles!

I agree, and I really hate it when sites require specific formats for passwords. However this is just a password strength meter (even if it's a poor one) and not forcing anything on the user.

Re: "…encourage your users to enter stronger passwords."

#26

Post by jimmyk » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 6:01 PM UTC

aba_sababa wrote: post #9

This is cute, but personally, I've never been a fan of password character requirements. Laissez-faire, and all that...the Internet has no business telling me how to secure my profiles!

Well, some websites do have some business telling you your password isn't secure enough. If someone cracks your bank password, the bank is liable for the money lost.

Re: "…encourage your users to enter stronger passwords."

#27

Post by gmac » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 6:02 PM UTC

A sense of humour bypass alert applies to these comments:

I'm afraid I found this a bit confusing -- my initial thought was that more nakedness might be associated with vulnerability/exposure, and therefore indicate password weakness.

And aside from any sexism, making strong passwords NSFW might not have the desired effect.

Re: "…encourage your users to enter stronger passwords."

#28

Post by Xurinos » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 6:14 PM UTC

city41 wrote: post #25

aba_sababa wrote: post #9

This is cute, but personally, I've never been a fan of password character requirements. Laissez-faire, and all that...the Internet has no business telling me how to secure my profiles!

I agree, and I really hate it when sites require specific formats for passwords. However this is just a password strength meter (even if it's a poor one) and not forcing anything on the user.

Yes... I object to password strength meters that do not accurately gauge a password's strength but prevent you from entering the password of your choice. For example, isn't "I agree, and I really hate it when sites require specific formats for passwords." an amazingly strong password? Instant failure at many places for not having a single digit in it. Ridiculous. If I made sure it was completely lowercase, it would fail at a lot of other places.

Re: "…encourage your users to enter stronger passwords."

#29

Post by pavel_lishin » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 6:16 PM UTC

giberson wrote: post #7

Personally I love it, however I will never ever be able to employ it on our company website. However, the concept of incentivizing the password entry field has inspired me. Instead of something risqué like nudity, how about offering a coupon off your first order (works for a commerce or service based site). Ie, as they type, gradually increase a % from 1 to 5 (or higher, what ever you're willing to offer). IE, a prog…

And when your database is out in the wild, it'll let crackers know exactly which passwords to go after first, and which ones not to bother with!

Re: "…encourage your users to enter stronger passwords."

#30

Post by wonderzombie » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 6:17 PM UTC

knowtheory wrote: post #11

clothed to naked with just "1!aAA" :| What is with HN recently? I just do not understand why the uber-creep factor is out in force. Even if the image set is replaceable and you dont' have to use a naked lady, that is the default demo, and the stated objective of the site is Strong Password == Naked Lady. Aside from the blatant sexist targeting, this is trying to take advantage of entirely the wrong impulse. Associati…

Agreed. This is extra creepy.

Flagged.