| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 5/16/2009 12:54:17 AM | Markus - please change this, nobody wants it. It's really quite useless and only leads to frustration among your users who have privacy concerns. And in this day and age, it's our given right to be concerned about our privacy. It's such a simple change to make and would save a lot of "whining" as myself and others are apparently doing on this forum. :P
Also, I do get the whole fact that I'm safe as long as people don't have access to my email account. And that's all fine and dandy, the logic does make sense. But... for those who don't know much about technology or haven't taken a course at a technical college, you'll need to do some reading about how easy it is to hack in to a users email system. It's not terribly difficult when they use a freebie service like Gmail or your ISP email. Honestly, read up. ;)
why do you bother posting a message to him here? Just talk to him about it when you see him at school.
I certainly don't know Markus personally, LOL. He no longer goes to the school I currently attend, and hasn't for quite a few years now. But obviously he's left a little of a legacy...
Funny you should ask that actually, I had this same discussion with a mister Cowboy over email (POF mail), and the cat certainly got his tongue afterwards.
I am fully aware of messaging him through POF, but that sort of defeats the point of this forum, doesn't it? I mean, if you had an issue you wanted to bring up to your local government rep, would you call him up directly on his personal cell phone? I didn't think so. There's a process for these things and its best to respect them. I know if I was the in Markus' position I certainly wouldn't even pay attention to the people who bypass the forums and go straight to my account. It would be like calling up your ISP with a technical question but instead phoning the President of the company for help. You just don't do it, you go through a process and things generally get done more efficiently that way. It's the way it's been designed.
Now obviously I get that Markus doesn't seem too intent on making the change, or he does but it's on the bottom of his priorities. I get that. I think I've raised enough of a stink here for now that I'll leave it for a while. But if it's still like this in a few weeks or even months... I'll be back.  | |
|
rhods
|
Joined: 5/23/2009
Msg: 52 | |
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 6/16/2009 1:45:34 PM | I totally agree, I have also complained about this and yet I continue to receive emails with my password.
Does anyone listen here? Is there anyone who knows anything about security? Is there anyone who gives a toss? If not, then I'm out of here.
Regards
Rhod | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 6/25/2009 4:21:12 PM | I am sure Markus is aware of this issue by now. The main point is - it's his site. I didn't pay anything to put up my profile here so basically I am getting much more than I paid for, if you catch my drift.
The emails only annoy me like spam, so now I spam-filter plentyoffish.com. As far as the passwords go, my ID and password here are used only on this site. I do have other profiles on other sites, and simply keep track of all my ID/password combos in a text file on my desktop.
As I have yet to make contact with a prospective girlfriend here, and have only developed one email friend here, I could care less if someone pirates my account.
But still the message every 72 hours is very annoying. | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 6/29/2009 10:37:11 PM | I guess another voice in this thread won't hurt, as the admin obviously hasn't heard us yet.
Here are 5 reasons why the password should not be included in the automated emails:
1) People are saying Plenty Of Fish is only a dating website, so it doesn't matter if someone gets your password. You are now an e-commerce website with the introduction of your "Serious Member" feature.
2) Despite it being common knowledge you shouldn't reuse passwords, almost everybody does.
3) People say it's your website and you can do what you want with it, which is true. A long time ago you asked us to take your free dating website seriously, as it was a relatively new concept at the time. We did. Now take your member's security seriously. Is that too much to ask?
4) Most websites don't store members' passwords in their entirety in case they're hacked. They store only an encrypted version of the password. This is true for all types of websites: blogs, forums, other dating websites, banking websites, etc. If a website does happen to store entire passwords, they would never automatically e-mail that password to you every 72 hours. It's actually a bit humorous that you would even consider doing this.
5) Removing the password from your automated e-mails will only quell the critics of this security issue. People don't need their password automatically emailed to them. They aren't that dumb. Usually. | |
|
astock
|
Joined: 6/25/2009
Msg: 55 | |
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 6/30/2009 4:35:31 AM | quote from admin on page one
most of the people that complain are married, It acts as sort of a filter.
it's just a free dating site
 | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 6/30/2009 1:25:10 PM | astock, see #1 above.
Besides, being a free dating site doesn't mean it's acceptable to automatically send out your password every 3 days. I honestly can't believe we're having a debate about whether this "feature" (a.k.a. "security flaw") should be removed. As the only website I know of that does something like this without you specifically requesting it, I think it should be obvious it should be changed.
The marriage argument is illogical. Even if there was no password in the email, there would still be an email from a dating website in her husband's mail program. | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 6/30/2009 2:11:05 PM | gavin they dont store any personal information on your profile that anyone can really steal is the point. All they have is a email address. No name no personal info. People in this thread keep talking about "what if someone hacks into my email account".
The worst a "hacker" can do is booger up your profile. Anyone "hacking" into your email is looking for better stuff to steal then your email account and he will have to have that already to be "stealing" your password onto here.
I agree it should not need sent. I am an IT guy. But there is nothing here to steal also. No one with your password can really steal anything that a normal non member cant see and scarf. The worst thing they can do is they could change your profile. I got news for ya. Anyone can take your pics and make a new account on here and basically do about the same result.
Work on securing your email account. Use an email filter to trash those emails thats what I do. I never see them.
Because we all agree with ya here that its silly. And this thread is like 3 or 4 years old so I would bet Markus really does not care what we think and he is the only one that matters right?
There is nothing we can do about it other then protect our own private email accounts.
Cowboy | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 6/30/2009 4:37:55 PM | Cowboy,
Honestly man, I could care less if someone "hacked" into my POF account. I'm also not worried about my email being read and my password being found, since I don't know a single person who would be interested in that.
As an I.T. person myself, I don't like seeing glaring security issues that someone knows about but still refuses to fix.
It's his site and he can do what he wants. But I HIGHLY advice people NOT to sign up for the "Serious Member" feature. I wouldn't trust this website with anything related to finances.
Gavin | |
|
| |
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 7/22/2009 3:16:36 PM | Oh, so there is indeed already a thread on this. I need to learn how to search better.
How does it act as a filter? If one wanted to be secretive, one could just as easily use a secure e-mail address for this site. I doubt there's that much a correlation complaining and being married. I would wager it's more of one with being security-conscious.
The bottom line is that it is bad form to send passwords like that, ever, and no one has a legitimate reason for it doing that. At the very least, there should be a way in which to opt out of such nonsense. Why piss off a portion of your site's visitors for no reason? | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 7/22/2009 4:00:28 PM | Although this isn't a financial site, I still agree with the other members that passwords shouldn't be emailed every week in plain text. Mailing them upon request (via a "forgot password" link) is acceptable to me, but not automatically every week.
The funny part of this whole debate is that there's just no legitimate reason FOR doing it in the first place.
Let's think about this: If the weekly "check out your matches" email did NOT have the password included in it, do you think there would be the same number of discussion threads from outraged members demanding that these emails WOULD include their password? ;-) | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 7/22/2009 4:26:48 PM | There are many threads there are complaining and making good arguments that the passwords not be emailed weekly. It probably would take only a minor tweak of the system to make the change to send the matches only, without the password.
I don't remember ever seeing someone argue for receiving the passwords weekly, and yes, there is a function to have the password emailed to you if you forget it.
Perhaps someone can convince admin to start a poll thread here to survey how many users are in favour and how many are against having the password sent.
The argument in Msg 23
most of the people that complain are married, It acts as sort of a filter.
can be addressed by including a marital status field in the survey. | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 7/22/2009 4:30:19 PM |
Oh, so there is indeed already a thread on this. I need to learn how to search better.
How does it act as a filter? If one wanted to be secretive, one could just as easily use a secure e-mail address for this site. I doubt there's that much a correlation complaining and being married. I would wager it's more of one with being security-conscious.
The bottom line is that it is bad form to send passwords like that, ever, and no one has a legitimate reason for it doing that. At the very least, there should be a way in which to opt out of such nonsense. Why piss off a portion of your site's visitors for no reason?
Just because you are not aware of the reason does not mean there is not a reason.
But there is a fix, see below.
http://www.plentyoffish.com/faq.aspx
I Do Not Want Any More Email Notifications
You can stop message notifications (sent out when you get a message) in Mail Settings on plentyoffish.com. Unfortunately you cannot stop the latest matches emails usually sent out on Mondays - if these are a problem we'll remove your account upon request. | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 7/22/2009 4:40:54 PM |
You can stop message notifications (sent out when you get a message) in Mail Settings on plentyoffish.com. Unfortunately you cannot stop the latest matches emails usually sent out on Mondays - if these are a problem we'll remove your account upon request.
Thanks for posting something about which I'm sure all the people in this thread who are complaining about the e-mail thing know.
The point is that we do not want to remove our accounts. We just don't want to be e-mailed our freaking passwords constantly. It's not an unreasonable request.
It's all a situation of babies and bathwater. | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 8/2/2009 7:55:38 AM | I'm in agreement with this - I've just recently signed up and intended on using this site, but as soon I got the first email I was surprised the password was included in plain text! I've never seen a site that does that before.
I'm not worried about reusing passwords on another site, it is after all proper practice to use different passwords (although most people don't) and it is simple enough to just use a different one on this site.
And yes, in the big scheme of things it is not a big deal: after all it is only a dating site. However, it fits into social networking site category, and as such, it could be used to create social damage. The biggest problem is probably not that the password could be sniffed (although plain text passwords in emails is bad security practice), but more so that someone could cause harm from such things as practical joke or even with the intention of causing harm.
Take a hypothetical example: say a roommate or someone visiting your house asks to borrow your computer, sees the emails (for example I leave my email program open all the time so I can see when I receive it), and decides they will play a joke - opens up the account and sends a nasty email (perhaps even to a common friend). Not that it wouldn't be explainable, but it would be something I would rather not deal with. | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 8/2/2009 11:26:11 AM |
The point is that we do not want to remove our accounts. We just don't want to be e-mailed our freaking passwords constantly. It's not an unreasonable request.
Considering the service is free and your are here voluntarily and that policy is clearly stated in the FAQ's, yes it is an unreasonable request.
If you invited me to your house for a party and with that invite you laid out all the rules of the party, but once I got there I did not like the way you did some things at your party, would it be unreasonable for me to complain and not leave?
Take a hypothetical example: say a roommate or someone visiting your house asks to borrow your computer, sees the emails (for example I leave my email program open all the time so I can see when I receive it), and decides they will play a joke - opens up the account and sends a nasty email (perhaps even to a common friend). Not that it wouldn't be explainable, but it would be something I would rather not deal with.
So why should POF be responsible for your actions?
If you would rather not deal with it you have two choices.
Delete your account.
or
Make sure your stuff is secure. | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 8/13/2009 8:03:29 PM | No site should *EVER* send your password to you in emails... over and over again.
Never.
The folks at POF just don't understand it. | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 8/13/2009 8:58:12 PM | So everyone here is guaranteed to be single... because their password is constantly being emailed to them????
Not even the most foolish programmer would do that. | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 8/14/2009 1:00:57 AM |
No site should *EVER* send your password to you in emails... over and over again.
Never. Why?
As I said to you in the, now deleted, thread you started earlier on this same topic - this isn't your bank or your online share trading account. The password is of little interest to anyone but you.
Unless you fear 'someone' may be snooping on your home computer I guess and checking up on you?
But then, you could always establish a password protected user account on your computer and conduct your POF related activities from within it.
So everyone here is guaranteed to be single... because their password is constantly being emailed to them????
I don't see the connection between your premise and your conclusion. | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 8/19/2009 8:34:16 AM | Do *YOU* want anyone reading and writing emails under you account?
Yes?
Then give me your password and let's have some fun.
After all, this isn't a bank ... so who cares about security.
Right? | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 8/19/2009 8:36:22 AM | > So everyone here is guaranteed to be single... because their password is constantly being emailed to them????
Someone else (not me) claims that is the "good" reason why we keep getting bombarded with emails from POF that contain our own password.
I already know my password.
I really don't need 250 (and counting) email reminders.
Do you?
Maybe if I get 400 email reminders... then I'll know my password.
Senseless. | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 8/19/2009 9:28:26 AM |
Do *YOU* want anyone reading and writing emails under you account?
Yes? Not particularly. Where did I say I wanted that? Or thought it was a good idea?
Then give me your password and let's have some fun. Huh?
Is that your idea of 'fun'?
But anyway, do I really need to give you my password? Why don't you just intercept my email?
After all, this isn't a bank ... so who cares about security.
Right? I don't think I suggested abandoning the idea of security. I expressed doubt that anyone, other than you, cares enough about your password here to go to any trouble trying to find it out.
Except maybe a spouse of course, but if someone is here deceiving their spouse... why do they think POF has some obligation to help them do it?
If you see it as a problem there are plenty of work-around solutions, I gave you one already and others aren't hard to find. Expecting someone else (admin) to fix it for you though? That probably isn't one of them. | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 8/19/2009 2:43:31 PM |
Do *YOU* want anyone reading and writing emails under you account?
Yes?
Then give me your password and let's have some fun.
After all, this isn't a bank ... so who cares about security.
Right?
You're missing the point. If your password being sent to you in an email to YOUR email address is compromised, it's NOT because PoF sent you the password, it's because your password to your EMAIL has been compromised. If you keep your email password secure, then the PoF email sending you the password CANNOT be compromised.
That's also what the reference to married people being concerned is about. Many married people share their email passwords. That makes it possible for a wife to find out just what her husband may be doing on PoF, and vice versa, which is why this is alleged to cut down on the married people on the site claiming to be single.
Main point is simple. Keep your email password secure, and PoF having your password in their monthly email will be irrelevant. It's a dating site, not your bank. The worst that could happen is that someone sends email in your name, or deletes your account. It's not like they can steal your identity, your money, or anything else that is overly important to your life. | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 8/21/2009 8:53:04 PM |
The worst that could happen is that someone sends email in your name, or deletes your account.
You're saying that our PoF accounts aren't important to us?
No, it's not my (true) identity or my money, but it's a considerable investment in time and effort. It has thirty days of PoF messages, the pictures that I uploaded, the clever profile and enticing interests -- I don't want to lose all those unexpectedly.
Right now my password is exposed to every hacker on every computer that the email goes through on its way to my mailbox.
Please add me to the list of people requesting that passwords *not* be sent in email. I haven't seen any good reason to do it, and it should be easy to remove this feature. | |
|
| E-mailing of passwords
Posted: 8/22/2009 11:55:15 AM | ^^^
Right now my password is exposed...
I dunno about your password being exposed but will comment about your primary "Capt. Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise" photo, in which your eyes are not exposed.
Are there not rules that require your primary photo to show your eyes? | |
|
Home
login 
