Password reset questions and feedback

rhialwencomp

I just don't see how this will help spam much if at all. Spam seems to come from brand new accounts. I know you took away newbies ability to post links some time ago, but there still doesn't seem to be that much incentive for the spammers to go after old accounts.

Also this is only going to catch active accounts. Surely if they were going to go after established accounts then they'd be dormant ones. And it's not going to help with that because if they do have the password then they can just log in and change the password. So that's not stopped spammers. Might have locked out the real user so the spammers can keep the account if it doesn't get banned right away...

I'm just really struggling with this logic. You haven't even made it so that you can't reuse passwords. What you've done, all you've done, is make a slight annoyance happen every 90 days (hopefully).

Of course it is just a slight annoyance, and nothing to get too bent out of shape over, but I think that people are getting more irritated because it feels like an excuse, or at least a badly thought through plan.

Pollycat

ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »

There is only one sensible interpretation that can be put on it. if she wants to come back and say they definitively told her no security breach, fine. if they want to come back and say no security breach, fine. And if you want to assume that a vague statement from someone who makes no direct claim to have been told anything, and who almost certainly wouldn't be told anything before anyone else - she is no part of the company and this is commercially sensitive - is enough for you, than you are at liberty to do that. Just don't make statements that might make others who didn't read the original posts think something has been said when it hasn't.

I don't think you realise how serious this could be. There is no way MSE would be discussing it with "board guides" if it had happened.

And I suggest that you don't either.

I do realise how serious it might be for those people who have a single password for multiple forums and accounts.

eschaton

It's looking like being another day and another day with no official confirmation.

They have no excuse for not replying and if they are tired they should try a real job.

parkrunner

Pollycat wrote: »

Andrea
A number of posters have expressed concern about security issues of being requested to reset passwords
using a non-secure connection.
Copied from another (now closed) thread 4 days ago:
Don't you think it's now an appropriate time to comment on this security aspect as well as the password reset one?
Thanks

If Andrea had actually read the now closed thread she could have answered. So that leaves just the two options, either Andrea couldn't be bothered to read it or she read it and simply doesn't care about the security of this site, so don't hold your breath waiting for her reply.

[Deleted User]

parkrunner wrote: »

So that leaves just the two options, either Andrea couldn't be bothered to read it or she read it and simply doesn't care about the security of this site

Really?

Isn't there a third option?

Could it be that the questions have indeed been read and a corporate decision made simply not to respond to them?

I sincerely believe that the security of this site is uppermost in her mind and that of her employers and it is churlish to imply otherwise.

Pollycat

parkrunner wrote: »

If Andrea had actually read the now closed thread she could have answered. So that leaves just the two options, either Andrea couldn't be bothered to read it or she read it and simply doesn't care about the security of this site, so don't hold your breath waiting for her reply.

I wasn't.
I didn't actually expect to get a response because the same point had been made on another thread - without any reply.

Jinhao159

If there hasn't been a security / data breach then a quick response to that effect would stop a lot of these posts and prevent many users from worrying.

If there has been a breach then surely there is a duty to tell us as soon as possible. I really hope that there hasn't been a breach as I like to think MSE would tell as as soon as they became aware.

The lack of an official response is the reason for this thread getting longer at such a rapid rate.

I suspect there hasn't been a hack.

In my opinion the biggest concern is being forced to change passwords on an insecure page. However, I am also aware that this view isn't shared by everybody as somebody on another thread told me to leave if I don't like it.:(

I was tempted to report the post but decided not to sink to their level.

[Deleted User]

What I'm about to say is in no way official but what I would ask is that people are patient, I have no idea why we are being asked to change our passwords and TBH I don't care as its no big deal.
What I do know is that MSE has been having problems with spammers, most of the spam is being removed so fast that most of you never see it, I spotted 2 spam threads at 7.24pm and 7.25 tonight and by 7.26 they were history.
And remember we are asked to be nice to other MSE members the same applies to MSE staff, or it should.
Thanks x

[Deleted User]

venison wrote: »

what I would ask is that people are patient

Have all the Board Guides been instructed to say this? You are now the third BG to come forward with that platitude.

I think the beef most posters here have is the almost total silence on this subject from the site's admin. This thread is titled "Questions and Feedback", but while i can see the same questions asked over and over I can't see even an acknowledgement of them let alone a proper response.

I get that MSE has been fighting a losing battle with spammers, but what I don't get is how a 90 day expiry on passwords is going to solve this problem.

I'm also impressed that Spam is being very quickly dealt with, but that still doesn't answer the question of whether the site's security has been compromised.

joeypesci

NaughtiusMaximus wrote: »

I miss the IMDB forums too but IMO a big factor in their scrapping was the huge amount of trolling on them. It got to the point where boards for a lot of current/popular films & TV programmes were completely swamped by trolls.

And the forum software was really poor and basic.