concerns about each user having a unique "URL"

[Dan Lyke]

On Thu, 02 Nov 2006 14:31:44 -0800, Peter Watkins wrote:
> To me it would seem an improvement for OpenID to
>  - not require an individual's unique URL/iName, but also accept a
>    URL that only uniquely identifies the Identity Provider  
>    (id.plumbers.co)

This is, perhaps, something for the User Experience list, but as an  
Identity Provider you could do all of this by giving them a place to  
copy and paste off a URL for each assertion that they wish to make.  
One URL could give their name, one could be anonymous to your site as  
an Identity Provider and let the Relying Party know only that you  
vouch for them.

> I expect that many programmers building OpenID RP software
> would assume that the "claimed identity" (URL used by the RP to  
> authenticate the user) was unique for each user.

So far, I'm assuming that it's unique for each identity. I have  
considered allowing multiple identities, but the user interface of  
that seems like it's pretty hard. For instance, I have at least one  
user who has a male web developer persona, and a gender-neutral,  
possibly tending towards female, creative persona. The user makes no  
secret of the dichotomy, and many of the other participants on my site  
are conscious of that difference, but trying to figure out how  
presenting the singular identity in some circumstances while  
maintaining separate identities in others, and how to say "this piece  
of content that I'm contributing comes from this identity, and not  
that one, even though the identifiers are the same" starts to  
seriously turn my head in knots.

Dan