There has been a lot of hubbub about Nielsen's comments lately, but it isn't the first time I've seen this. http://letsfreckle.com/blog/2008/12/calamity-howlers

There has been a lot of hubbub about Nielsen's comments lately, but it isn't the first time I've seen this. http://letsfreckle.com/blog/2008/12/calamity-howlers/ http://letsfreckle.com/blog/2008/12/calamity-howlers/ describes why the freckle team decided to show the password. I think that it depends on the web app; if your customers are the type that would look at this as a security risk, then mask the password. Just realize that password masking really isn't protecting passwords.