philwilson.org

What's your app's minimum limitation on username size?

16 March, 2005

Six characters? Three? Do you have a minimum at all? Should there be a minimum length for a username? Why can’t I have a one-letter username? Obviously there’s a fair chance that someone might have taken it before me, but still, what’s stopping me? Are enforced-username lengths a security issue? If you allow one-letter usernames, then perhaps there’s a better chance of brute-forcing the password?

Regardless, it’s completely frustrating to try and sign up for an account, only to be told after you’ve entered your registration details that “Oh no, sorry, your username actually has to be at least six characters long. Didn’t we mention that? Oh, sorry.”

Well, thanks and goodbye. Your service may be great, but now I’ll never know.

See other posts tagged with general and all posts made in March 2005.

Comments

leff
16 March, 2005 at 15:45

I’ll do you one better. I have to use some app for work that won’t let you use more than 8 characters for a password. But it has to be 6. And yes, it tells you after you’ve typed in your nice long hard to remember password, twice.

Gareth
16 March, 2005 at 16:03

You’ll probably find that after you sign up, that their javascript is broken and the service doesn’t even work anyway 🙂

Pip
16 March, 2005 at 17:21

leff: niiiice! it’s hard to believe anyone who writes that kind of thing has ever used it.

gareth: hahahahahaha, it’s funny because it’s true! 🙂