[geeks] Secret codes, was US Post Office Website broken again

[Dan Sikorski]

Rick Hamell wrote:
> I resisted for as long as I could. But this is the reason I started 
> writing passwords down and keeping them in an encrypted file. Add in my 
> own anal retentiveness about not having duplicate passwords and it 
> becomes a nightmare to remember. Especially for those lesser sites I 
> only log in to every few months or so

Which brings me to another gripe:  Web based stores that i use 
infrequently and require the creation of an account that stores my 
information.  If I buy pants from tallpantscheap.com every 3 years, by 
the time it's time to buy new pants, my address may have changed and my 
credit card expired.  Why did they remember it for me, instead of giving 
me the option of checking out without creating an account? 

First draft of this email used macys.com as the example, but after 
checking their website, they allow checkout without creating an 
account.  Fortunately some websites do it that way.  I think that the 
increasing requirements of PCI compliance will push more websites to 
stop requiring accounts, which is probably the only good side effect of 
those regulations.

    -Dan Sikorski