The problem with Internet websites today is that most websites require user registration. From online shopping to news feed to financial services to a gazillion social networking websites like YouTube, Flickr, Blogger, WordPress, Facebook, MySpace, Technorati, Del.icio.us, Digg, StumbleUpon, Orkut, and most recently Content Wrangler and WriterRiver for technical communicators, the list of all the websites you’ve ever registered for probably numbers in the 2-3 digits.
While most people reuse the same username(s) and password(s) across several websites, there’s really no standard for username and password registration that is consistent across the Internet. One website limits usernames to a number of characters, another website uses your email address (and which one was that?) as login, and some website won’t let you use dots and underscores. if you use your first name last name as your username registration, especially if you have names like John Taylor or Michael Chen, the likelihood of that username being available is as good as winning the lottery. You really have to come up with unique names that nobody else will use, or so you think, like ShanghaiTechWriter or Marian27.
When it comes to passwords, it’s nearly impossible keeping track of all of them! Some websites require a 4-number PIN , some require 6-8 characters, and others require uppercase, lowercase, AND numbers before they’ll accept your registration. And there are websites that will generate passwords like ‘4ZhgW8fTj1′ for you and the ‘change password’ link is so hidden that most people don’t bother.
In picking a password for each website, you really need a set of passwords that you recycle. One password for emails, one password for financial services, one password for social networking, and one password for junk websites. Actually, some people probably use the same password for everything. Not a smart thing to do. And then there are people who write down their passwords on a sticky note and post them on the computer monitor. That’s the epitome of stupidity. Oh wait . . . that’s my mother.
One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to registering for a website is when you get a confirmation email and your password is printed for everyone to see! Passwords are not meant to be written down! But I guess with the gazillion passwords you have to remember, the offending web service probably thinks it’s doing you a service. Why don’t we all keep track of all our passwords in our mailbox! Hacker’s heaven.
So how else are we to remember all our usernames and passwords? Every so often, I have this morbid thought in my head: what if I were to die all of a sudden? Who’s going to take care of and wrap up my online life? All my financial accounts, blogs, social networking sites, and miscellaneous paid services. I mean, seriously. This day and age where many people live two lives—the physical one and the online one—what happens to these accounts when a person dies? Is there some kind of service you can signup where in the case you were to die, all your online services and accounts would be notified? Do people think about this kind of stuff when their write their will?
In any case, I found two articles with tips on coming up with and remembering passwords.
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