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Author Topic: Why do they make things difficult?  (Read 2191 times)

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Offline Rajagra

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Why do they make things difficult?
« on: Tue, 04 May 2010, 23:58:38 »
So I decide to sign up for one of those social bookmarking sites. 'Delicious' to be exact. I go to create an account, but it redirects me to Yahoo to create an account. Oh well, fair enough if they are the same people...

Try to create Yahoo account using name rajagra. Already in use? Bollocks it is! I don't believe that. Could be a failed attempt I made before to register though. So I use a variation on the name.

Next problem, my email is not considered valid. WTF? I've been using it for years. There's no hint of why Yahoo doesn't like it. After some Googling, it looks like the problem is not my personal domain, but is the way I want to use yahoo@mydomain so I know where any spam crap comes from when it eventually starts arriving.

So I try a variation on yahoo@mydomain, but no dice. Anything that closely resembles yahoo anywhere seems to trigger a failure. Eventually I settle for something quite different, with just "ya" included to give me a clue of where emails are coming from. Finally allowed.

At last I'm allowed to actually register a Delicious account. Offered the choice of tying it to the Yahoo account or making one with a new name. I decide to use my standard name, the one I tried to use from the start. It is accepted! Hurrah!

Imported a few bookmarks and moved to a different machine to test its usefulness. Shows empty list, as I'm not logged in. Try to login using my Yahoo username and password (the only one I have used so far in this game.) It tells me I shouldn't be using the Yahoo login. If I want to do that I have to click a seperate link further down.

So wait. After being forced to jump through hoops to register at Yahoo, NOW you tell me there is a native Delicious login?? Why didn't you just let me make one? Or is it no longer possible following a buyout, and you only mention it to wind me up?

None of these annoyances were necessary. Why are the people who create these things such cretins?

Rhetorical question, obviously. It just does my head in that people bend over backwards to make things difficult for no reason. :mad:
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Offline hyperlinked

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Why do they make things difficult?
« Reply #1 on: Wed, 05 May 2010, 00:23:41 »
"SSO" or Single Sign On seems to be a real hot trend of popular websites lately. Your benefit is one less account to keep track of an somehow you're supposed to get a better experience by allowing two partner sites to collaborate through your account.

Sounds great in theory, but it's really hard to get right. There are tons of Facebook Connect implementations that are barely usable. I had to do a FB Connect implementation last year. It wasn't the most fun I've ever had. Having two separate authorities that now have to share control of your account properties just creates a nightmare of UI considerations.

I'm not a huge believer that we really need just that one all access pass. I definitely see the potential benefits, but it never seems to work as well as planned and if the two minutes it takes to open a new account deters someone from joining, they probably weren't going to be a high value user anyway. For now, I think it's more trouble than it's worth for most sites.

It's getting harder and harder to own a user with all the infinite number of social networking options out there for people I guess this is one more way some sites can try to hang on to some extra userbase.
« Last Edit: Wed, 05 May 2010, 00:26:50 by hyperlinked »
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Offline vyshane

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Why do they make things difficult?
« Reply #2 on: Wed, 05 May 2010, 01:00:37 »
Delicious was purchased by Yahoo! in 2005. Yahoo! obviously wants new users of the service to have a Yahoo! account. That way they can try to get you to use their other properties too.

Regarding not allowing "yahoo" in the email address, it's probably an anti-phishing measure.
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Offline Rajagra

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Why do they make things difficult?
« Reply #3 on: Wed, 05 May 2010, 02:42:24 »
Maybe, but it's a remarkably useless measure. If you send something to yahoo@mydomain I will receive it whether they like it or not. This only stopped *Yahoo* from sending email to me at that address.

The point is they never explained why they considered the address invalid.

And since they've owned Delicious for 5 years, couldn't they have worked out in that time how to integrate both login formats in that time instead of having a clumsy message saying "you can't login that way, try this alternative"?

These things don't inspire confidence that they will treat a new customer well or do a good job protecting confidential information.
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Offline vyshane

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Why do they make things difficult?
« Reply #4 on: Wed, 05 May 2010, 03:51:18 »
You're right, of course. They should make it as easy as possible for people to sign up and use their service.
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Offline ricercar

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Why do they make things difficult?
« Reply #5 on: Wed, 05 May 2010, 14:22:25 »
xyzzy_yahoocom@mydomain works for me.
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Offline JBert

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Why do they make things difficult?
« Reply #6 on: Wed, 05 May 2010, 14:23:44 »
Quote from: hyperlinked;179063
"Sounds great in theory, but it's really hard to get right. There are tons of Facebook Connect implementations that are barely usable. I had to do a FB Connect implementation last year. It wasn't the most fun I've ever had. Having two separate authorities that now have to share control of your account properties just creates a nightmare of UI considerations.
No OpenID?
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Offline hyperlinked

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Why do they make things difficult?
« Reply #7 on: Wed, 05 May 2010, 14:38:58 »
Quote from: JBert;179264
No OpenID?


OpenID's not glamorous enough for the website I was working on. Some of the stuff I do is as much for appearance as it is for function. Probably .01% of the users on that site have OpenID's and .02% probably know what it is.
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Offline hyperlinked

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Why do they make things difficult?
« Reply #8 on: Wed, 05 May 2010, 14:47:49 »
Quote from: Rajagra;179091
And since they've owned Delicious for 5 years, couldn't they have worked out in that time how to integrate both login formats in that time instead of having a clumsy message saying "you can't login that way, try this alternative"?


Out here in the States, Yahoo also fronts DSL connectivity services with  partner telecom companies. I was a customer of YahooDSL for quite a few years and the last time I had the joy of filing a support ticket with them about a year and a half ago, their support forms still asked you questions from 2002.

To file a ticket you had to answer whether:

1) Your browser was IE, Netscape, or Yahoo Browser
2) How much RAM you had (512K or 1Gb+)
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Offline kishy

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Why do they make things difficult?
« Reply #9 on: Wed, 05 May 2010, 14:51:33 »
I hope anyone connecting to DSL had more than 512KB of RAM.
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Offline Rajagra

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Why do they make things difficult?
« Reply #10 on: Thu, 06 May 2010, 04:12:45 »
Quote from: hyperlinked;179273
how much ram you had (512k or 1gb+)


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