Completely Random Thoughts

[RoninFox]

Why, once I've solved the problem, must the customer then bitch me out about the steps of took to get to me?  I didn't set up the customer support system.  I'm just the competent person you might talk to if you use it.

Because they've been holding on to their impotent rage the entire process of not understanding what they are doing, and now that the problem is solved they panic because they're almost out of time to use it. Don't know if there's a way around that.

[Thrifty Version II]

Okay, I need another brainstorming session for Geoquitties.  I'm nearly done, but one piece I am working on now is the security question/answer system for the password resets.  I have 3 so far:

What is the name of your favorite pet?
What is your social security number?
What is your mother's maiden name?

I'm looking for 3-6 more.  They should be of a nature that they would be easy for a person to remember but not easy for a stranger to guess.

Ideas: GO!

[UncleDesmond]

Why, once I've solved the problem, must the customer then bitch me out about the steps of took to get to me?  I didn't set up the customer support system.  I'm just the competent person you might talk to if you use it.

Because they've been holding on to their impotent rage the entire process of not understanding what they are doing, and now that the problem is solved they panic because they're almost out of time to use it. Don't know if there's a way around that.

I get that a lot at work: people vent - but it's just them letting go of their anger. The fact that you are a "safe escape route" for their anger doesn't mean that you are the topic of it, or that you have to engage emotionally. "It sounds like you've had a tough time. What can I do to help you?" is an appropriate response.

[UncleDesmond]

Okay, I need another brainstorming session for Geoquitties.  I'm nearly done, but one piece I am working on now is the security question/answer system for the password resets.  I have 3 so far:

What is the name of your favorite pet?
What is your social security number?
What is your mother's maiden name?

I'm looking for 3-6 more.  They should be of a nature that they would be easy for a person to remember but not easy for a stranger to guess.

Ideas: GO!

2 and 3 are targets for identity theft.

- What was the last name of your favorite teacher in school?
- What was the color and make of your first car?
- What street were you born on?

[Thrifty Version II]

Okay, I need another brainstorming session for Geoquitties.  I'm nearly done, but one piece I am working on now is the security question/answer system for the password resets.  I have 3 so far:

What is the name of your favorite pet?
What is your social security number?
What is your mother's maiden name?

I'm looking for 3-6 more.  They should be of a nature that they would be easy for a person to remember but not easy for a stranger to guess.

Ideas: GO!

2 and 3 are targets for identity theft.

I agree, and I'm vacillating on whether or not to leave those in.  On the one hand, this is just a school project and not a serious commercial website, so security is not a big concern.  I still scrambled the passwords (so if your password was something like "potato" it would be logged in the database as something like "7b414000888533423dc2055df156730b")  The upside is that I have this site programmed so that changing out the questions is pretty easy.

- What was the last name of your favorite teacher in school?
- What was the color and make of your first car?
- What street were you born on?

Number 1 I've used on some sites, and it's a good one, but I find it can be tricky if that teacher had a hard to spell name.  The second one I think I use with one of the credit bureaus and somehow I never phrase it correctly and screw up when trying to answer.  I can never remember if I included the year, the "level one" at the end of it, or what.

Thanks for the ideas.  Keep 'em coming folks.

[Darth Geek]

The first one is susceptible to change. I hate it when security questions are like that. Same with

- What was the last name of your favorite teacher in school?

if the person is still IN school.

I like the specification of

- What was the color and make of your first car?

And I've seen similar questions to

- What street were you born on?

and am I the only one that gets confused? Because I (and presumably most people) were actually BORN in a hospital. And not even in the same city as where my family lived at the time. If you want to ask "what street did your family live on when you were born", fucking SAY THAT!

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Those types of security questions are the reason I quit buying stuff on iTunes.
There was one entire group that was like "what was your first........", and I couldn't remember any of them.  Every one was teenage stuff.  I could have made up an answer and written it down, but it bugged me enough to switch all my purchases over to Amazon.

I've never seen "what street were you born on?", have to agree with DG, that is a really stupid one.  The town you were born in is OK.  I was born on the other side of the country from where I grew up, so the name of the town is the only thing I know about the area I was born in.

[UncleDesmond]

The first one is susceptible to change. I hate it when security questions are like that. Same with

- What was the last name of your favorite teacher in school?

if the person is still IN school.

I like the specification of

- What was the color and make of your first car?

And I've seen similar questions to

- What street were you born on?

and am I the only one that gets confused? Because I (and presumably most people) were actually BORN in a hospital. And not even in the same city as where my family lived at the time. If you want to ask "what street did your family live on when you were born", fucking SAY THAT!

It's pretty clear you have never in your life "brainstormed" anything as a defined process. I have. Also not sure where the hate is coming from: I'm trying to help someone out and apologies that I did not give rigorously constructed answers:

1/ I left school decades ago and can still answer question 1 so don't understand the comment.

3/ You and Marty S are right: the question was phrased poorly for those who were born in hospitals.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

It's pretty clear you have never in your life "brainstormed" anything as a defined process. I have. Also not sure where the hate is coming from

Don't take it personally, the hate is against these types of questions in general.  Far too many of them make you try and remember stuff that happened 30 or 40 years ago.  I can remember one teachers name from high school, but couldn't spell it so it's useless as a typed security answer.

There's also a secondary random hatred that comes to mind when talking about these questions, middle aged people who still talk about stuff from high school.... 

Back to the first group of questions, they can easily be modified so they can't be used for identity theft.

What are the last 2 digits of your SS number?
What are your mothers' maiden initials?

[Quantum Vagina]

What about the old standby "What are you wearing?"?

[LucasM]

What was the name of your grade school?

What is the name of your favorite movie?

Who is your favorite actor?

What is the title of your favorite album?

What is the name of your favorite band/composer?

What is the title of your favorite book?

Who is your favorite author?

What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

[UncleDesmond]

Don't take it personally, the hate is against these types of questions in general.  Far too many of them make you try and remember stuff that happened 30 or 40 years ago.  I can remember one teachers name from high school, but couldn't spell it so it's useless as a typed security answer.

There's also a secondary random hatred that comes to mind when talking about these questions, middle aged people who still talk about stuff from high school.... 

Marty: Thanks for explaining... I got butthurt too quickly. We're good.

[Darth Geek]

What is the name of your favorite movie?

Who is your favorite actor?

What is the title of your favorite album?

What is the name of your favorite band/composer?

What is the title of your favorite book?

Who is your favorite author?

Again, these are things susceptible to change. Presumably whatever password you are putting in is going to be used for YEARS.

[MSTJedi]

What was the name of your grade school?

What is the name of your favorite movie?

Who is your favorite actor?

What is the title of your favorite album?

What is the name of your favorite band/composer?

What is the title of your favorite book?

Who is your favorite author?

What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

African or European swallow?

[Thrifty Version II]

Thanks for the suggestions all.  I just realized that I could have Googled this easily, and found this.

What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

That probably wouldn't work, since the answer is public knowledge, but I expect you were just joking on that one.

As I mentioned, the nice thing is that I could implement all of these suggestions with equal ease.  The site doesn't actually understand the question or the answer.  It just remembers them, and it's up to the user to repeat the answer back.