1 username for all forums

[Burpee]

Okay, I haven't slept in 36 hours, so I'm not able to think about wether this idea is possible (technically/safetywise)....
Wouldn't it be cool, if you'd create one username for all simplemachines forums. You'd have to set up one central database for creating those usernames, but it would be kinda fun imho.... and it would also be very practical to users, as you don't have to sign up for every single forum you go to.. it would also create a user commitment, seeing as every time you're on another simplemachines forum everything just goes a lot smooother and you can use your username on all forums... security wise I don't see many problems (but I'm not a technical dude), seeing as you can still read people's IP's and the same rules apply to people that registered on your own board as people that registered on SMF (and a punishment like your  IP being banned on the SMF database would be a bad thing...)
Anyways, you guys just do what you want with this, I'm going to bed now

[jayssite]

people could use javascript to get peoples' passwords

[Ben_S]

No, it would be rubbish and all the good usernames would be taken after a few days.

[nave]

what about private boards that have registration disabled? that would put an end to that feature. i choose who i allow to be a member of my boards. i have an "adult" board, and i certainly wouldnt want a 13 year old member showing up because they had a universal member name.

[Oldiesmann]

I don't see any reason for this... jay - you can't use javascript to get someone's password because even if you do manage to get it out of the database you wouldn't be able to figure it out.

[[Unknown]]

I'm more interested in being able to say:

[  ] I'm registered on another SMF forum, please get my details from there.
        URL to other forum: [                                     ]

This is already technically possible and a large part of why there is xml information available for every member .

-[Unknown]

[[Unknown]]

I don't see any reason for this... jay - you can't use javascript to get someone's password because even if you do manage to get it out of the database you wouldn't be able to figure it out.

Yes, you can.  If the username/logins are shared it is a security risk.

-[Unknown]

[Burpee]

I just felt like bringing my first post on these boards back up
InfoPop has something that does this now:
http://www.groupee.com/

[Alexandre P.]

The CMS Drupal has something similar too: http://www.drupal.org

The interesting thing in that is that you'll only need to register to one forum, then use the same username on every SMF forum.

[Peter Duggan]

FWIW, I missed this topic first time around but, quite apart from the security issues, I'd be totally against it (and make sure to disable such a feature *if* it existed) because there's absolutely no way I'd want every member of every SMF forum to effectively be members of mine!

[Burpee]

Okay. Peter, explain this to me, as I am apparently quite dumb and irrational: Why?

The downsides I have seen mentioned here in the earlier parts of this thread are completely ridiculed by the amount of upsides to the idea. If you have some other ideas that would completely convince me never to use a feature such as this on my board, go ahead! I would personally be thrilled to be able to browse and post on every board without having to register, I would also be thrilled to have my members be able to post on all SMF boards and have new people be able to post without having to register at my own board as well. As a matter of fact, the mere thought of this idea becoming a reality comes close to ... well, I won't get into too much detail, let's just say it feels like a great thing .

Apparently, the security risks can be minimized and, according to Infopop, are in fact smaller than when registering at a lot of different boards.

[Peter Duggan]

Okay. Peter, explain this to me, as I am apparently quite dumb and irrational: Why?

Because many forums are simply not intended for everyone!

So I run a crew forum for my boat and another for its class association and, while guests are currently free to post at either, we just don't want many thousands of automatic 'members'. As for my other (graphics) forum, registration is required before posting for a reason, so the same holds true. It's like giving a key for your house to all known home owners in case they feel like visiting you, but I bet you wouldn't do that!

[Jerry]

I'm more interested in being able to say:

[ ] I'm registered on another SMF forum, please get my details from there.
URL to other forum: [ ]

This is already technically possible and a large part of why there is xml information available for every member .

-[Unknown]

I like the sound of that I hate having to update all my profiles

[[Unknown]]

Well, in this case, excuse me, but Infopop can stuff it.  They can say whatever they want to say, but it doesn't make it true.

The page you linked to says nothing about security, and only privacy.  In that, it's true - if you use the exact same password for every forum you register at already.  But that would be a very stupid thing to do, and is one of the main reasons why this system is LESS secure not more.

-[Unknown]

[Aldenhier]

It's like giving a key for your house to all known home owners in case they feel like visiting you, but I bet you wouldn't do that!

That's a good way to put it! There are a bunch of reasons not to get this too:

• Some forums have adult content
  
• Some forums are made for certain people, like webmasters or a website, or the users of a website, etc.
  
• Some people have admin activation on their forum, so they can see who is registering, and they don't want to have a bunch of people registering without being activated by the admin!
  

And the list goes on and on...

But I do have an idea:
There is a database of forums, in which you can have one username on all of them. If someone wants to add their forum to the list, so that they can have more members on their forum (or make it look like it, at least), they could:

• add their forum a list on the SMF site
  
• Have a special feature in the Admin Panel that adds the global user database tables to your database, and vise versa (that one sounds best to me!)
  
• Have a section of your code in a file commented out (#, //, or /* */), and you can un-comment it to make it work, and then re-comment it to make it stop!
  

Their forum name and other info would be added to the "global user database" and a (searchable?) list would be made and all of the forums from the database would be created, which could be shown on somewhere on this site!
Does that sound any better?

[Tony Reid]

I think phpbb has a mod called passport that does this... or it could be vB I suppose.

The idea obviously has flaws... one of them being that when you register at each site - thats the point when you agree to that sites 'individual terms and conditions'....

But I cant help thinking it would be cool to be able to form relationships with other sites. Say your friend is running a similar forum, then why not exchange a secret link which enables you to pool the members?

[[Unknown]]

Why not just do the xml thing I mentioned?  It's already available, and only a matter of reading the data in.

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?u=2;sa=profile;action=.xml
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?u=5;sa=profile;action=.xml

I suppose the signature should/could be in bbc, but the idea is there.

-[Unknown]

[Pause]

The following option would be needed though if the nickname is already taken locally....

If your username is already taken, then it will ask you to specify a different username for that forum only.

[Jerry]

Why not just do the xml thing I mentioned? It's already available, and only a matter of reading the data in.

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?u=2;sa=profile;action=.xml
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?u=5;sa=profile;action=.xml

I suppose the signature should/could be in bbc, but the idea is there.

-[Unknown]

you learn something new everyday

The following option would be needed though if the nickname is already taken locally....

If your username is already taken, then it will ask you to specify a different username for that forum only.

I thought it would be good to just register, and have it get your information from the xml file.... I wouldn't want my password sent over like that . Imo something like this should just grab the "extras" like messengers, location, signature, etc..