Email addresses are not good 'permanent' identifiers for accounts

Re:Email addresses are not good 'permanent' identifiers for ... by fantasybroker on Sunday December 31, 2023 @12:22PM (#38825641)

Personally, I like the idea of hardware-tied auth (phone/FIDO2 key), that could work for me eventually. However, I am also one of the "anon-in-the-ether" people and don't want a permanent identity on any public service.

A permanent identity comes with many additional mechanics, far beyond just a stable identifier. The biggest one is post karma (including likes): IMO it's at the core of almost everything what's wrong with the modern web. It introduces vile personal and group incentives and leads to an eventual destruction of any honest conversation. While this mechanic exists on public forums, I won't use a permanent identity.

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Re:Email addresses are not good 'permanent' identifiers for ... by pseudalopex on Sunday December 31, 2023 @05:04PM (#38827901)

Stable identifiers were common decades before karma or likes.

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Re:Email addresses are not good 'permanent' identifiers for ... by fantasybroker on Sunday December 31, 2023 @05:16PM (#38828009)

Yup, I used to use them back then.

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Re:Email addresses are not good 'permanent' identifiers for ... by pseudalopex on Sunday December 31, 2023 @05:47PM (#38828194)

You said stable identifiers come with karma and likes. But you know they come without also.

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Re:Email addresses are not good 'permanent' identifiers for ... by fantasybroker on Sunday December 31, 2023 @06:20PM (#38828357)

I mean - yes? I understand what a stable identifier is. Having a unique user ID in a database doesn't magically enable likes on all features. But for the purpose of this discussion I limited my opinion to "public services", i.e. services with a social aspect, which overwhelmingly have this mechanic (to such an absurd extent that I can "like" payments made by people I don't know on Venmo).

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Re:Email addresses are not good 'permanent' identifiers for ... by pseudalopex on Sunday December 31, 2023 @07:00PM (#38828558)

> I understand what a stable identifier is.

You do not understand what core is apparently.

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Re:Email addresses are not good 'permanent' identifiers for ... by fantasybroker on Sunday December 31, 2023 @09:08PM (#38829189)

From what I understand "core" is a central part of a fruit.

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Re:Email addresses are not good 'permanent' identifiers for ... by dcow on Monday January 01, 2024 @04:38AM (#38830705)

I’d challenge you to live life without a government ID, and without giving your phone number to any “public service”. I’m sure we could be more private than we are, but you aren’t going to get far without your permanent ID.

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