Presented for your enjoyment-slash-amusement.
Email received by team@stackoverflow.com
from Name
Jesus Christ Almighty, what a f***ing mess of a website. I'm trying to post a question. Just the one, you know, f***ing question. So I sign up for an ID and I'm sent an email that doesn't really tell me what to do apart from clicking some link to verify my email address. So far, so f***ing normal. Then I go to post a question and spend ages typing the f***ing thing in. I put in what I think is my Open ID and when I post the question it tells me to f*** off because there's no OpenID connection endpoint (is this a f***ing website or a f***ing COM interface?). Fine! I go back and type in my f***ing name and my email address. Ah! That's for signing up and my email address is already registered. I still can't f***ing post my question.
No problem. I request my account is "recovered" by typing in my email address. I get another email, asking me to click a link. I do so. I change my password. I'm f***ing logged in. It says "f***ing welcome, Name. | f***ing sign out", f***ing great. I go to post my question again. There's no f***ing connection endpoint.
I give up.
F***!
Yours sincerely,
Name
Email response to Name
from team@stackoverflow.com
Hi Name,
Here's your f***ing account:
http://stackoverflow.com/users/xxxxx
It's using the f***ing MyOpenID, so your login should consist of clicking the f***ing myopenid icon on the login page:
http://stackoverflow.com/users/login
I suggest trying to f***ing log in before posting next time, to prevent any issues.
I apologize for the f***ing inconvenience,
Jeff
Email response from Name
Hahaha. Thankyou. :P
To be fair, the login interface is somewhat of a f***ing tragedy.
Good f***ing response!
But, without the swearing, I understand where he is coming from - It is easy/convenient for techy people, but there are many out there who just do not understand OpenID.
I have now referred a lot of people to the site (Super User) and I sometimes get questions about how to create an account and some people simply do not understand OpenID/SSO, and do not want to give their Google (usually) details to this site as they think you can view/steal their credentials.
...To be fair also, I knew it was safe but I was a tiny bit worried the first time I signed up a year ago and clicked on "trust this site" (or whatever the message was) as this was my first experience at using OpenID... (and at the time, these sites were not as well known!)
It takes a lot of explaining to make a few people understand.
But, I really don't know what else you can do to make it simpler for new users other than offer your own OpenID / easier to use sign up.
Also, it sounds like this guy did have some sort of genuine error, that being said, he went totally the wrong way to get it resolved!
Ladies, please, calm down.
I clicked the log-in link and I got a page saying, "Do you already have an account on one of these sites? You can use that to log on here!" (There follows some thumbnail list of company logos) and then, "Or, manually enter your OpenID - in the HUGE F*** EDIT BOX" (henceforth known as the HFEB), "and click Log in".
So, I type in what I think is my Open ID in the HFEB and it tells me I don't have a connection endpoint. After much p***ing about and an email to Contact Us that was intended to be amusing (and thankfully which did not cause the reader to burst into tears), I click the myOpenID logo thumbnail and it tells me to "Enter your MyOpenID username". I do so and it fills in the HFEB with what looks like a URL. I click Sign In. Progress! I get presented with a page that shows my username, which has now changed from RobinsonT to the URL previously mentioned (yes, the previous page asks for my OpenID username, which is not the same thing as what OpenID thinks my username is). I'm asked to put in my password. It then tells me I don't have an account on Meta Stack Overflow yet. Ok, I get it, this is a different site. I need an account here too. So I click Create Account - and here I am.
In the world of (say) C++ coders, I know the above would not be controversial in terms of usability (my main area of expertise). But for those of us not suffering from autism, for whom the day consists of perhaps only 24 hours, it may all be a bit confusing with our right-brained, left-handed, arty type personalities. Ironically, my original idea was to post a question about C++ templates, which I tend to have the same problem with.
Thankfully, I have now managed to generate a sound conceptual model for how all of this OpenID stuff works.
Sincerely,
RobinsonT
Well f***, everything ended better than expected.
At the very least he got the idea that it was not an automated response!
EDIT: I wonder what his f***ing question was...
From a user interface point of view, why do we put a message such as "Welcome user, Sign out" Instead of something like "Welcome User,Start Using the Website"? I think the first message suggests to the novice users that the correct action after logging in should actually be signing out.
Seriously, Jeff. You need a bit more tolerance. Serenity now. Yeah? Serenity.