Usernames Are Dying – Here Is the Replacement

http://chargecapture.com/post/usernames-should-follow-the-path-of-dinosaurs-extinction

by rossfishkind • 12 years ago

2 6 12 years ago

minimaxir• 12 years ago

"Many systems have replaced the username with an email address. This worked well in the 90s, when most people had a single email address; but now it's ambiguous because everyone has both business and personal addresses - and often more than one of each."

This is not a valid assertion.

oxalo• 12 years ago

Personally I don't want to give away my cell number as a piece of identifying information.

logn• 12 years ago

I have three phone numbers. And I avoid services that request phone numbers.

gcb0• 12 years ago

"let's replaced short sighted ideas with one that will last even less and only apply to 30% of people"

this is idiotic and pretentious.

DharmaSoldat• 12 years ago

I'm hoping this was written satirically...

informatimago• 12 years ago

Indeed, I have as many phone numbers as emails if not more.

Further, I'd be very wary to subscribe to a service using a phone number given the total lack of anonymity with them.

On the other hand, having several email for the various facets of our lives can match perfectly with the various uses we may have of a service.

It is a PITA when a service tries to unify all the accounts used by a single person. Notably for example, Apple, makes it difficult to separate our faces as professional developer employed in a company, amateur or free-lance developer at home, and iDevice user. And using the same computer, you may have to connect to the service using all those facets at different times!

This is the reason why Google policy of using real names and unifying accounts is bad. I mean, it's good for slave owners dealing with their cattle to have a unique identifier, but it is not how humans' lifes work.

Usernames Are Dying – Here Is the Replacement

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