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OpenID Is Why I Hate The Internet

teddziuba.com

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Re: OpenID Is Why I Hate The Internet

#51

Post by william42 »

brianr wrote: post #24
jrockway wrote: post #21

Every time I see an OpenID site, I just type " http://jrock.us " and am instantly signed up. No username and password selection, no waiting for the retarded e-mail confirmation e-mail... I am instantly registered for any site by just typing a few letters. I am really unsure why people dislike OpenID. As a website user, my time is saved. As a website developer, my time is saved. I suppose if you never intend to use mo…

People aren't as dumb as you expect. You're right--they are about 10 times dumber. Have you been on Facebook or MySpace, or read YouTube comments lately?

I'll just quote Aaron Sorkin on his recent joining of Facebook: "You guys are screwing me up with your kindness and civility!"

Re: OpenID Is Why I Hate The Internet

#52

Post by sethg »

We have had a solution to this problem for decades: using the same God damned username and password for every website that needs them.

This is what I do...except that every once in a while, I try creating an account on a new site and discover that someone else has taken "sethg". Or the site has some rules about what characters are mandatory/forbidden in a password, and I can't use my default password. Or the site stores passwords in the clear and gets hacked, and I have to remember everywhere I used that default password and go change the password.

In the grand scheme of things this is only a minor irritation, but whenever I go to a site that I only expect to visit once every six months and discover that I have to create yet another site-specific account, I think, "I wish they supported OpenID."

Re: OpenID Is Why I Hate The Internet

#53

Post by burp »

streety wrote: post #30
brianr wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People aren't as dumb as you expect. You're right--they are about 10 times dumber. Have you been on Facebook or MySpace, or read YouTube comments lately?

What percentage of the internet using public is responsible for the type of youtube comments you're talking about? You can't take what is the worst display of human intelligence and hold it up as the standard or average with which you label everyone. Even taking the youtube commenters I suspect, most of them, would be able to grasp openid if it stood between them and the next ROFLMAO-able video.

Second sentence is nice

Re: OpenID Is Why I Hate The Internet

#54

Post by derefr »

axod wrote: post #26
derefr wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I was coming at it from a developer's point of view. Here's a user story: 1. I don't have an account with this site. They say that if I have an account with (any of these other OpenID-supporting sites), though, that that one would work instead. Neato, but I don't use any of those, so: 2. I'll click on the register link here. Ah, here's a registration page. It doesn't have the site's logo on it, but they said th…

Sorry but that's just way way way too confusing for most internet users. They know how standard registration/login works. They have a browser that remembers passwords for them. They don't need OpenID.

I can bet you that I could fix all the problems you have with this story with one teensy little change: allow the OpenID providers to recieve "theme" information (basically a base URL for CSS files and images) from the sender site. Then the registration page would look like it was part of your site. Then, when rendering the login page/div, check whether the user is already logged into the provider using some onunfocus AJAX, and then smoothly drop the password field down underneath it if it's needed. (of course, then, you have to handle sending that password to that provider in a secure way, but we're focusing on user-persoective advantages now, so, like with IE6 support, a lot of sweat is to be expected.) from the user's perspective, if they don't know what the little "OpenID-enabled" icon next to the username box means, they can just go along with their business, and everything will happen as usual.

The only problem at this point is the URL username. To answer that, think about what, for example, gmail does: when you have a gmail.com address, you can drop that part and just use the username part of it. Likewise, I'd allow my users to strip off the domain part of whatever my "preferred provider" was, and just say that the "foreign IDs" basically need a "passport stamp" to get in--an attached domain name.

Still too confusing?

Re: OpenID Is Why I Hate The Internet

#55

Post by axod »

jrockway wrote: post #48
axod wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry but that's just way way way too confusing for most internet users. They know how standard registration/login works. They have a browser that remembers passwords for them. They don't need OpenID.

How do you know this is too confusing? Did you ask anyone? Did you do any research? Why is this confusing but e-mail isn't? If I want to send and receive e-mail, I have to find my own provider. I also have to remember this weird string, "me@example.com". THAT'S TOO HARD FOR THE AVERAGE USER!!11!

I agree... For quite a lot of people email IS too hard for them. Sometimes takes them quite a while to understand how it works. I'd say openID is orders of magnitude more complex and more worrying.

I tried using openID once. It directed me to google or yahoo or something to log in... So then I had to decide if it was really google or yahoo, or if it was some phishing site.

It's a terrible idea, which is sure to fail. There is no compelling reason for people to use it.

Re: OpenID Is Why I Hate The Internet

#56

Post by tjpick »

alex_ndc wrote: post #36

I wouldn't mind using OpenID if it actually worked. When I try to login to stackoverflow, it sometimes gives me the following error message ... "Unable to login with your OpenID provider: The remote name could not be resolved: 'blog.lexoft.eu'" And after some time it starts working again. I suspect this is a DNS problem, but using OpenID means a dependence on an external system over which you have no control. So I li…

using the internet means a dependence on an external system over which you have no control. OpenID is no less reliable in that regard than the internet in general.

Re: OpenID Is Why I Hate The Internet

#57

Post by tjpick »

furiouslol wrote: post #28
derefr wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I was coming at it from a developer's point of view. Here's a user story: 1. I don't have an account with this site. They say that if I have an account with (any of these other OpenID-supporting sites), though, that that one would work instead. Neato, but I don't use any of those, so: 2. I'll click on the register link here. Ah, here's a registration page. It doesn't have the site's logo on it, but they said th…

Sorry. Too confusing for the average internet user.

yes, most things are.

Re: OpenID Is Why I Hate The Internet

#58

Post by raganwald »

theoneill wrote: post #44

Ted Dziuba is why I hate the Internet. I don't just mean that as a clever reply to the title. The Internet lets everyone be heard, instead of just the "qualified" people who used to get to publish their opinions in the print era. For the most part that's good, but there's a small group of writers who specialize in mean-spirited linkbait that makes me miss the editors who filtered everything in the old days.

"The Internet lets everyone be heard" => upmodded for truth. Everyone gets a soapbox and teh right to yell as loudly and as profanely as they like.

"instead of just the "qualified" people who used to get to publish their opinions in the print era" => upmodded for humour. Have you ever read anything in a newspaper owned by Conrad Black? Or anyone else, really? Print media may employ professional journalists.

But their "research" is flawed, they have a habit of regurgitating press releases from their advertisers and the political parties their owners support, and they pander to the prejudices of their readers.

Freedom of the press belongs to everyone who can afford a printing press. The internet is the cheapest, most unencumbered and uncensored printing press in history.

Re: OpenID Is Why I Hate The Internet

#59

Post by MicahWedemeyer »

My site uses OpenID, and I'm surprised at how many users actually do understand it.

It's especially true in the case of Yahoo users. All they have to do is type in "yahoo.com" and they're in. Try and explain to me how it's easier to remember a bunch of usernames and passwords than "yahoo.com"

And remember: There are no overarching guidelines on usernames and passwords, so the whole "use the same one every time" almost works...but not quite. One site requires a 6-letter password, another requires 9 with one uppercase letter and a number, while another has no requirements whatsoever. That crap gets frustrating as hell for me and there are several sites that I have to re-request my password every freaking time I go.

As more and more big sites come on as providers, like MySpace and Yahoo, it will only get better. I agree that there are issues with presenting and explaining it to users, but the underlying premise is a good one.

Re: OpenID Is Why I Hate The Internet

#60

Post by olefoo »

raganwald wrote: post #58
theoneill wrote: post #44

Ted Dziuba is why I hate the Internet. I don't just mean that as a clever reply to the title. The Internet lets everyone be heard, instead of just the "qualified" people who used to get to publish their opinions in the print era. For the most part that's good, but there's a small group of writers who specialize in mean-spirited linkbait that makes me miss the editors who filtered everything in the old days.

"The Internet lets everyone be heard" => upmodded for truth. Everyone gets a soapbox and teh right to yell as loudly and as profanely as they like. "instead of just the "qualified" people who used to get to publish their opinions in the print era" => upmodded for humour. Have you ever read anything in a newspaper owned by Conrad Black? Or anyone else, really? Print media may employ professional journalists. But their…

Which is what makes it both the most endearing and the most infuriating timesink ever.
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