Hooo, boy.

Got an email from J&T Distributing saying their AK buttstocks were on sale. Cool. Go online, fill out the order, I'm ready to go and -

Hold it. First I've got to "create an account", and to do that I have to "set up a password". You know, a password. The same kind of password that we all have a hundred of and never remember for lo those many buisnesses with whom we only occasionally do buisness.

I've already got a million passwords, I'm sick of passwords, and I have yet to see how all of this rigamarole either serves me or does anything substantial for the company. The sweet little old lady who used to man their phones (and cheerfully bypassed the whole "set up and account and password" thing) has sadly passed on.

Well, OK. I don't feel like hassling with yet another password so I pass on buying the stock.

Today, I just needed a DD firing pin. They don't sell firing pins. OK, I could use a spare extractor and a couple of pins and springs, so I'll get the (duh, duh, DUUUUHHH!) critical components kit.

Out of stock.

Click on 'notify me'. "Well sir, you're going to have to set up an account and a password just to do that." "Why do I need yet another password just for a notification email, and never mind a one-time purchase?" "Oh, it just takes a few minutes and if you forget your password there's a little icon you can click so you can get out of the website, go open your email, change your password, and then come back here and use the password if our janky little website (helloooo, Tombstone, yet another "you gotta have a password" joint) will let you back on the page and keep all the information we've already insisted you enter."

A few minutes, a little effort, none of which serves me in any way and none of which I can see serving a company I haven't even committed to buying anything from. I'll pass again.

W in T everlovin' F is all this "you gotta set up an account and a password" crap for? Is the idea that I'll be so invested in your website that I won't go anywhere else to buisness in order to avoid setting up another pretty much useless account and password, or did you jackasses even think about what a tremendous waste of my time you expect as a matter of course?

I hope every one of those companies' IT weasels bring complaints in front of OSHA, I hope that Biden's OSHA forces them (unConstitutionally, of course) to buy the IT weasels full-bore Cadillac versions of shit soup to nuts sex changes, and I hope it all costs millions.

Agreed. I do not want to set up an account with a login ID and password, in order to give my money to a company.

Fortunately, most of the vendors that I place orders with, will allow a "guest checkout" without requiring an account.

Maybe a message to the "Contact Us" facility, wherein you 'splain that you're trying to send some money in their direction, but the silly requirement to establish an account is a deal breaker?

If I can't check out as a guest without an account, I simply go elsewhere. I'm not playing that game.

And even then they still get your email to spam you with garbage, but that's what my junk email account is specifically for.

How else can they resell your buying patterns and info?

Eh, I just go ahead and set up an account, most times, unless they have a guest check-out and I'm confident it'll be a one-time buy from that seller.

If nothing else it gives me the opportunity to log in and check the status of my order if something doesn't seem to be going according to plan.

I use a password manager. Have been using one for years and years. One more entry simply isn't that big a deal to me.

Plus, I've taken to splitting my password manager entries into categories. (E.g.: "Firearms.") That way I can always look back, months or even years down the road, if I want to recall "Where'd I buy that from?"

quote:

Originally posted by Kenpoist:
How else can they resell your buying patterns and info?

Another advantage of setting up an account and using a password manager: I give every one of them a "tagged" (aka: "plussed") email address.

E.g.: I might give Firearms-backwards-R-Us an address such as "ensigmatic+fru@example.com". That has several benefits, one of which is, if they ever sell my info or their database is compromised, and I start getting email to that tagged address that didn't come from them, I'll know from whence it was harvested.

Btw: I have twice had an email address I gave to an on-line vendor start getting really questionable email. Called them up. "Did you sell or give away your email list?" "No. We never do that." "Well, then, your customer database has been compromised, because..."

I've had that happen twice with one particular well-known, popular on-line vendor of flashlights and batteries. After the second instance I was no longer quite so confident they were being straight with me when they insisted they do not sell or otherwise share their customers' email addresses.

(That same vendor, when I tried to get removed from their mailing list, kept spamming me. Another advantage of tagged email addresses: I simply sent email to that email address to the bit bucket.)

Tagged email addresses are very handy, as ensigmatic wrote.

I have found a few websites that will not allow them.

Going through a password manager also seems like it's more effort than it's worth. I understand it's easy but why should it have to happen at all?

I certainly avoid doing it when I can, and I generally can, but why in the hell are they doing this to us? How can it possibly benefit the vendors for consumers to have unique passwords? Hell, I can dispute charges with the credit card company just fine and no one seems to have used one of my "accounts" to buy anything anyway.

Yes, I know, they can sell my data but - how in the hell are they supposed to sell my password?

My solution: fake name, scrappable Gmail address, one standard password for all the vendors.

It works... so far.

Just wait until they make you set up an account so you can set up an account.

You know- your account account.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Tagged email addresses are very handy, as ensigmatic wrote.

I have found a few websites that will not allow them.

Yeah, there are software people and web designers that really ought not be doing either job.

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:
Going through a password manager also seems like it's more effort than it's worth.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:
How can it possibly benefit the vendors for consumers to have unique passwords?

I'm not certain what you're asking, here.

You were complaining about having to go to the trouble of setting up an account. Fair enough. It is a bit of a hassle. To the point where if Vendor A and Vendor B both have a product, and Vendor A is slightly more expensive than Vendor B, but I already have an account with Vendor A, I'll use Vendor A.

But unique passwords when you do have accounts? It would be the height of irresponsibility not to do so. Vendors get hacked all the time. Use the same email address and password at multiple vendors and you're just asking to get 0wn3d.

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:
Hell, I can dispute charges with the credit card company just fine ...

Again: Not certain of your point. Surely you're not arguing you shouldn't have to bother with good security practices because you, personally, won't take the hit if one of your on-line accounts gets compromised?

That would be like saying "I don't have to bother locking my doors because, if I get burgled, there's always homeowner's insurance."

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:
Yes, I know, they can sell my data but - how in the hell are they supposed to sell my password?

Huh? Why would they want to sell your password? And to whom would they sell it?

Any data a vendor wants to sell--anything useful to anybody, doesn't require you set up an account. They'll have everything of any interest (name, address, phone number, email address, etc.) from a "guest" order.

Note to other SIGforum members:

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
My solution: fake name, scrappable Gmail address, one standard password for all the vendors.

This ^^^^^ is a prime example of what not to do.

quote:

Huh? Why would they want to sell your password? And to whom would they sell it?

This is the nut of the problem. If they sell me something, then they've got all of the personal data from me that they can sell.

Why in the hell do I also have to set up an account with a password? Since this is a one-time (or once in a very great while) purchase, it certainly isn't for my convenience when it comes to future transactions.

Went to a venders site to place an order. Out of stock for two months. OK. E-mail me when back in stock.
Venders reply.Thank you. WE will e-mail you when the item is back in stock and here is your account # and password. I did not set up a account and the only info I gave was my e-mail. So it looks like you can have an account weather you want one or not.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

Tagged email addresses are very handy, as ensigmatic wrote.

I have found a few websites that will not allow them.

Yeah, there are software people and web designers that really ought not be doing either job.

I like to use tagged addresses when I am setting up tracking notifications for a delivery. For example, VTail+DogFood@myDomain.com. This way, if I have multiple items coming in, I can tell which item I'm getting the notifications for.

That works fine for United Parcel tracking. It works fine for FedEx tracking. USPS tracking? Nope. It's "not a valid email address." Probably coded by some off-shore low bidder, or an H1B worker.

quote:

So it looks like you can have an account weather you want one or not. Eek

Maybe this is all about vendor bragging rights?

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:

quote:

So it looks like you can have an account weather you want one or not. Eek

Maybe this is all about vendor bragging rights?

Don't see how that would work. More likely to encourage future business because you'll have an account there.

Which takes me back to the flip side of the nut - all they're doing is pissing me off.