/dev/nikc/blog

A while back, Jeff Atwood wrote about the proverbial Internet Driver’s license. I liked the article and agreed wholeheartedly. Lately even more so.

Nowadays, hardly a month passes when a new service or interesting site doesn’t pop up, that one simply “must” check out to keep on top of the game – especially being part of the industry, but mostly due to curiosity or peer pressure. Often, this site or service will offer a higher level of service if you register as a member. In my case, I tend to create user accounts just to take the alias I use off the market. Or, rather, I used to do so.

Lately I’ve noticed that I mostly shun away from sites that require me to create a new user account. It’ll have to be something pretty damn special for me to care. Despite the fact that I’ve given up on managing my credentials mentally and handed over the task to 1Password. I just don’t want Yet Another User Account, when there are existing established solutions available which will let me identify myself using one that I already have.

So stop asking me to register and let me use the identity provider of my own choice.