Your password is WHAT?

[klfjoat.livejournal.com]

On PostSecret this past Sunday, there was a secret which read, "I use cuss words for passwords so I can embarrass tech support when I call for help."

There are a few things wrong with this picture.

1. WHY would they be embarrassed by your password?
2. Using cuss words makes you look stupid.
3. What tech support are you calling that asks for your password?

IMO, if you're calling a tech support line that asks for your password, then they should be embarrassed.  But not because of your choice of passwords...

Comments

[wxgeek.livejournal.com]

I recall a particular user of ours whose wife had changed his password to 'cheater'. That was different.

[geeveecatullus.livejournal.com]

Some ISPs where I live demand a customer password when you call them, which can be freely chosen.

[wignersfriend.livejournal.com]

That was an awesome story.

[areolamay.livejournal.com]

Pee Wee!
LOL

[glitteringlynx.livejournal.com]

I remember that story. Pure gold.

[glitteringlynx.livejournal.com]

Having worked in call centres, either the password shows up automatically on the screen or tech support has ZERO access to the password and can only reset it to a generic code. There may be some exceptions to this, but that's from my personal experience.

So really, it's stupid for a customer to assume they need the password, unless they're asking it for security purposes before talking with you about your account. They probably hear cussing from angry customers all day, aimed directly AT THEM. You using a swear word for your password really won't phase them.

[bitterfun.livejournal.com]

So... what's your password? Just curious.

[klfjoat.livejournal.com]

password -- all lower-case, one word, no numbers, no symbols. hahaha

[bitterfun.livejournal.com]

I'm more embarassed of the password as a password than any cuss word. Hell, I would revel in the opportunity to cuss at a customer:

Sir, can you confirm Fuckingshithead. Are you sure, Fuckingshithead. I just want to make sure it's a Fuckingshithead. Now that we're sure it's a Fuckingshithead can you put a Fuckingshithead in the password field. Don't worry it's all *********, it's still a Fuckingshithead. Now that Fuckingshithead is in the password field make sure the user is not a Fuckingshithead. No, sir, I meant the user name, not you. Is there a Fuckingshithead in the field? Ok, hit OK (you fuckingshithead).

[digitalraven]

******** - The most secure password!

[melstav]

Not only ISPs, but some cellular carriers do it, too.

When I do anything with my Sprint account which involves interacting with a drone human, I have to give them a password to validate that I do, in fact, own the account. And no, being in person and showing any number of pieces of photo ID is not sufficient. They need my password.

[liber-cogito.livejournal.com]

Best thing to reset a users password to:

ID10TU53R

[hangar.livejournal.com]

I'm sitting in the hallway at college (after my boyfriend + I successfully hijacked a nearby table to move to the nearest available power outlet) and started hysterically laughing at the, "make sure the user is not a Fuckingshithead." I'm pretty sure the Geology class next door is pissed at me now.

[momentarygenius.livejournal.com]

or dUmb@ss1

[meijhen.livejournal.com]

I saw that too, and thought pretty much the same. Also, that that particular person was a complete luser.

[hisamishness.livejournal.com]

Or maybe just a random sequence of colons and semicolons, and maybe a few other punctuation marks for good measure.... That could be evil... ;-)

[klfjoat.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

You know what I thought about... Everyone always moans about how a alphabetic, numeric, or alphanumeric password is weak. Technically, so is a password comprised solely of punctuation. Only one level of complexity.

I can see the password now....

Sir, your new password is "$#|+|<|(@@'" ... INCLUDING the quotes! ;-)

[drquuxum.livejournal.com]

I've used cuss words for usernames -- not always my own.

The old Cyrus e-mail system had a feature where you could deliver a message directly to an IMAP user's subfolder using the "+" in their address. I always wished that there were a user "sh1" who was a department chair or something, and they'd have an e-mail address "sh1+head@domain.edu"....

[hisamishness.livejournal.com]

I like how you hid a single quote in there...

'Very, Very Sneaky'
/voice=butler from Mr Deeds

[tadiera.livejournal.com]

When I was in techsupport, we actually purposefully looked up email addresses that had cusswords in them (or other "bad words" that got past the filter or were old enough to be 'grandfathered' in). Just to laugh at them.

[klfjoat.livejournal.com]

Yes, well, you notice I also put it next to the double quotes, in order to just COMPLETELY fuck with people. :-P

[knirirr.livejournal.com]

I've noticed that some students like to use vulgar variable names in programming courses. Presumably they imagine that this impresses or shocks the demonstrators.

[hikari-neko.livejournal.com]

They'll grow up eventually. I mean I end up with scratch variables called "bugger" a lot, but that's because I keep mistyping "buffer".

[jonah.livejournal.com]

When I was in middle school, we had a cranky old hag as our IT person. She locked down all the computers with startup/BIOS passwords, which a teacher would type in if we wanted to use the computers. One password was for booting up, another was for admin. One day a bunch of my friends were hiding out in the computer lab goofing off and trying to guess the passwords... what finally got us in was "FUCKOFF".

[wyldthyng.livejournal.com]

I wondered if someone might comment on that. ~lol~

I don't recall *where* it was, but I remember working somewhere where users weren't allowed to use cusswords as their passwords. We'd make them change it. Ironically just today I talked to a customer whose password began with f---you and had some random jumbling afterwards. I'm assuming she didn't like the pw system much ;)

But yeah, the only person who looks like a dorkwad is the person who CHOSE that password. And in reality, if I wanted to, I could take personal offense and disconnect them. HAH.