by Matt Savage on February 1, 2010
Back in the day, before the Interwebs came along, there was such a thing as Pen Pals. The concept of a pen pal was that you basically write letters, with an actual pen and paper, to another person or friend who is a long distance away. It was kind of a neat concept at the time, when we were more closed off, communication wise, to other parts of the world. Having a pen pal allowed one to share a bond with someone of a different culture and become pals. Now a day’s, with the exception of email, that concept has basically died. [click to continue…]
by Matt Savage on January 28, 2010
So every week I get the above email in my inbox from the PlentyofFish.com dating site. And every week, they decide that it’s a good idea to remind of my password by spelling it out right there in the middle of the email. Yep, it’s that spot that I blanked out in yellow, and it doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling inside either.
You see, most people tend to use the same passwords or password variations over and over again at different sites because it is simply easier to remember that way. Now, despite that it wouldn’t be a disaster if someone hacked into my online dating profile, they would have a password that I might be using on other sites too, sites that are probably more important to me.
I understand that it’s not like PlentyofFish is making this stuff public or anything; it does go straight into my email inbox. However, why risk it, why the need to send you an unsolicited password reminder every week? I don’t get it. Are we so forgetful that Markus needs to send us a password reminder every week? Not likely. And even if we did forget our password, why can’t they do what most sites do and only send the password when requested, you know those little links that say, “forgot your password.” That’s all you really need.
Yea, it’s only a free dating site so maybe no one is concerned that much about security but it just doesn’t sit right with me when I get an unsolicited email blatantly shoving my “secret” password into my face, or anyone else who happens to gain control of my inbox, but that’s just me.
