

The 10-Step Google Login Process from Hell - alain94040
http://blog.fairsoftware.net/2010/11/15/the-10-step-google-login-from-hell/

======
mcantor
I've had an @gmail.com account for many years now. At some point, though, I
realized that if Google went all Skynet on us, I would lose control of my
incoming e-mail account. So, I used Google Apps to create an @maxcantor.net
account, and forwarded it to my main gmail account.

This has led to confusion.

Since my @gmail.com account has always been my "primary" account, I use it for
Google Talk. I use it on my Android phone. I use it to get into Hacker News.
It's my primary OpenID account.

Obviously, this means that 90% of my friends & family send e-mails to _both_
accounts, because (unsurprisingly) no one can remember which one is the
"right" one. Of course, the punchline is that neither is "right," because they
both end up in the same inbox.

In my darker moments, I have dreamt of phasing out my @gmail.com account
entirely, using the @maxcantor.net account for logins, for Google Talk, for
OpenID, etc. However, the tenebrous depths of Google's "account" architecture
are both mysterious and sinister to me. Will I lose 5 years of e-mail history?
Will a non-gmail account lead to unexpected behavior with Google talk or
OpenID or any of the other billion places I use my Google account? Will Google
Apps go the way of Buzz & Wave the day after I make the transition, forcing me
to either put up my own mail servers @maxcantor.net or switch right back to
@gmail.com? My heart is filled with terror, comrades. I see the path of
simplicity before me, but it is beset on all sides by the bloodletting
hellhounds of You Get What You Pay For.

------
abraham
1\. You tried using a YouTube account that was merged into a Google account.

2\. You tried to use a Google account that does not have a YouTube account
associated.

3\. Since the Google account is not associate with a YouTube account it gives
you the option to create a new one or merge with an existing one.

4\. You tried to merge with a YouTube account already associated with a
different Google account.

5\. You tried to merge with a YouTube account already associated with a
different Google account with the wrong password.

6\. You attempt to reset the password of your YouTube account that is already
associated with a Google account.

7\. Google is protecting your accounts security against bots.

8\. You submit the password reset form for your YouTube account that is
already associated with a Google account.

9\. YouTube won't reset a Google account password so the email tells you where
you can do that.

10\. You tried the Google account that was correctly associated with the
YouTube account.

While Google should definitely work on their usability the fault is ultimately
yours for not remembering the correct account.

~~~
alain94040
_the fault is ultimately yours for not remembering the correct account._

Except I know my YouTube account and password. That account name is what
YouTube displays on every page when I'm logged in. Why Google doesn't let me
in is beyond me.

I usually go by the belief that blaming the user is the wrong attitude, no
matter how "technically justified" you may be.

~~~
abraham
Once you merged your YouTube account with your Google account the separate
entity of the YouTube account ceased to exist. For everybody that realizes
this it is a security risk to leave the YouTube password enabled since all of
those users will never think to change or security going forward.

------
acabal
I was thinking this exact thing earlier today. Someone sent me a link to a
Youtube video that wanted me to sign in to see risky content. I signed in with
my Google account, which apparently wasn't enough, because I had to also have
a Youtube account to link it to. I already have a Youtube account so I entered
that info, but apparently it was already linked to a different Google account.
So I clicked on the 'create Youtube account' link and was sent to an
absolutely massive signup form which doubtless required some sort of email
confirmation and my mother's maiden name. At that point I just said 'Fuck it,
I don't want to see that video that badly' and left.

------
dangrossman
This kind of thing actually keeps me from using a lot of Google services. I
had accounts on a couple before Google Accounts was around, or at least became
mandatory. I was never a Gmail user, so when I was forced to create Google
accounts, I'd sometimes use different e-mails having forgotten which I used
before. Now I have to go through a login/logout cycle multiple times to find
out which Google accounts will log me in to which site.

------
abraham
It is not a login process. It is a poorly designed account merge system.

~~~
alain94040
But I swore it said "login" right there in the dialog box :-)

How can they tolerate such a poor system? They have known about these issues
for at least 2 years. If it were any other company, I would accuse them of
mediocrity. But it can't be the case at Google, so what is going on?

~~~
scorpion032
You call people based on what they do and not who they are. :)

------
fragmede
It's a shame to see Google + Youtube fall into the same trap as Yahoo +
(Geocities|Flickr|Delicious)

------
numeromancer
If you think that's bad, try logging into Hacker News.

