HN Explorer

Which option do you choose to login

3 points by AbhishekBiswal ↗ HN
If you just found a new product that you want to try out, and you go to the login/signup page to find that you can signup using Facebook/Google/Twitter/Email, which option do you choose generally?

And why?

12 comments

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 38.5 ms ] thread
humancontact
Email, because I don't feel Facebook/Google/Twitter gives me the ownership of my virtual identity.
AbhishekBiswal
Isn't it tiring? When you can click and login, you choose to fill out 3-4 fields. About the ownership of your data,what if the app asks you for the permission of fetching only basic information nothing else?
humancontact
Yes, it is kind of tiring.

Even if the app asks only to fetch basic information, I think that I shouldn't go through them (Facebook, Google, Twitter) to assert my identity, since I don't pay any of these companies for this service, I can't trust them to keep my best interests in mind.

I feel that there should be a way for me to be my own identity provider, and email has been the closest I've got to it.

AbhishekBiswal
I agree. But what if you found something interesting on the web, and you can only sign up using Facebook/Google/any other service? No email signup. Then?
humancontact
Then I'll signup with Google because its the one I most likely have a valid cookie, but I probably won't rely too much on this service.
ColinWright
Email with a throwaway address. I don't use Facebook, I don't trust Twitter, I don't expose my Google account, and I don't trust a new product with my real email addresses.
AbhishekBiswal
And what if it's something you need to use once in while? Why a throwaway email address?

> "I don't trust Twitter" - You don't try, or you just leave after finding out that the app can follow/post tweets?

ColinWright 

  > And what if it's something you need to use
  > once in while? Why a throwaway email address?
Then I use it once in a while, but I'm prepared to abandon the email address. "Throw away" doesn't mean that I use it once and can't use it again. If I find that the service is useful and trustworthy then I continue to use that address and promote it into full service.

  >> "I don't trust Twitter"

  > You don't try, or you just leave after finding
  > out that the app can follow/post tweets?
I don't understand your question, but I'll try to guess at what you might mean. To put it simply, I don't trust Twitter, nor apps that insist that use Twitter as an authentication method. They end up being able to post as me, or read my tweets, or read my DMs, or whatever. I won't allow that, and I don't have time to chase down what they may or may not do.
brudgers
A throw away address for agreatservice.com would be "agreatservice@somedomainIown.com".

If it's something that I clearly have a semi-ongoing use for, I use gmail - it's my throw away address for general web access...MOOC's for example.

That said, if I click a link on HN and it requires an email to try out, then I almost always hit the backspace key because the purpose of the app is to collect email addresses not do whatever it purports to do.

Did you ever notice that HN does not require an email?

rufusjones
Facebook, Google or Twitter, because I don't think those companies know enough about me yet.

Sane people use Abine's Maskme things they think they might want to use and Mailinator or one of the other disposables places for those they doubt they'll use.

AbhishekBiswal
Exactly. My friend does that, it's more about carefully signing in, and not signing up for apps which follow/tweet/post stuff. Which one do you use the most? Different services for different apps?