[OpenID] Check out how the LA Times is promoting registration using third party accounts

[Nate Klingenstein]

Brian,

Six is a very small set in number of identity sources, yes.  We're  
dealing with a different problem space entirely in academia, where  
we're hitting severe scaling issues with sets in the thousands.

I appreciate the realities of dealing in the consumer world, and that  
six is a larger number than the common one or two.  But I feel  
compelled to speak out because the quick fix often becomes the  
permanent fix.

Indeed, this fix isn't even really quick anymore: the discovery  
problem has been known for awhile, and you folks at JanRain have made  
it one of your primary foci.  Buttons hitched to large providers with  
a variety of back-end protocols are becoming the dominant, accepted  
solution in the consumer world, and that simply doesn't work for more  
decentralized identity.

If the Foundation is doing everything it can to encourage RP's to  
accept OpenID as a generalized concept, and that's just not flying --  
because the discovery's not good enough yet, or the smaller providers  
just aren't interesting or compelling, or otherwise -- then I guess  
there isn't much more that can be done.  We'll keep working on the  
larger problem on the academic federation side, and I'll do everything  
I can to push for collaboration as soon as a more general solution  
than "click me" emerges.

Thanks for the response,
Nate.

On Apr 21, 2010, at 4:58 PM, Brian Kissel wrote:

> In fact an overwhelming choice becomes counterproductive from
> their perspective unless/until there is a better UX and workflow as  
> well
> as benefits for supporting a larger number of OPs.