New registration change for Google and Facebook

[CC_Jon]

Continuing the discussion from User Names:

As of a few hours ago, we have turned off the ability to register for an account via Facebook and Google. The only option at this time is to create an account via a username and password:

Users who already have an account created via Google or Facebook can continue to use those methods:

Existing users won’t be impacted. This change is only for newly registered users.

Why did we make this change?

There are several factors all pointed to the same conclusion:

• People who use Facebook and Google are often surprised to learn their usernames are based on their first and last names.
• Some people object to using their avatar from Google and Facebook here for a variety of reasons.
• The evidence is unclear whether these methods make registration easier for users.
• These methods of registering require supporting three different registration forms that work slightly differently.
• User data is inconsistent when we use Google and Facebook. In particular, we end up asking for birthday, which is pretty important to ensure we in compliance with a variety of laws about data privacy.

Is this a permanent change?

Not necessarily. We’re not planning on bringing these options back until next year. But if we work out the concerns we have with them. we might bring them back later.

[thumper1]

Thank you. I didn’t know the avatar was ported over from FB as well. Yikes. Many people use actual photos of themselves as their profile pics there. That combined with a real name…not really a good thing in my opinion.

There has to be some way (like what you have done yourselves) for folks to be promoted to choose a username and avatar.

If this can’t be adjusted, maybe using FB and Google aren’t what this site should be doing.