4 ms·

But how will I guess my email when I do want to reconnect with my account? I see why obfuscation (well, anything to avoid predictability, up to that random hex)

• cm2187 8y ago
  If you do that out of memory, you are most likely re-using passwords. Re-using passwords with an easily guessable login isn't a good combination.
  • throwanem 8y ago
    > If you do that out of memory, you are most likely re-using passwords. How does that follow? It still adds value to use aliases that identify the site where they're used, because then you don't need to do a hashtable lookup to see where your mail is coming from.
  • usrusr 8y ago
    Re-using passwords with a unique login would indeed be stupid because it would not only be weak against attackers but also have terrible ergonomics: it's usually much easier to regain access after forgetting the password than to regain access after forgetting the login. Source: I often forget both of them. What I and many others do is reuse not a password, but reuse a password formula (in my case with slight but easily memorable variations depending on importance, or if forced by stupid password rules). If you saw a dozen of my email/password combinations in the clear you would be able to reverse engineer the rules and then guess combinations for arbitrary sites almost as good as me. It's a calculated risk, just like trusting a password manager is a calculated risk. Right now I consider password managers the better trade-off, but still only slightly better, by a margin small enough to make it not worthwhile to invest in a habit change. If the "formula" I happen to use was just a little harder to reverse engineer than it sadly is I would consider it strictly safer than password managers.