Gregory's Serverthings user/profile systems fuck up, bad assumptions
- the user will never delete their account
- the user should be expected to individually delete their posts
- the user will never change their legal name
- the user will never change their email address
- the user will never change their phone number
- if they do change those things, surely they will think to use our change info ui before getting rid of their old name/phone number/email address
- the same as above, but with SSO linkages
 18 comments
- the user will never want or need a copy of their data - the user wishes to have their identity be immutable and persistent - that is to say, continue to be associated with old posts , analytics data and content regardless of the number of name and identifying info changes, thanks to “helpful” permafingerprint algorithms tracking the user across identity changes. - the user will never have a stalker, an abusive ex, or angry internet mob - the user database will never be hacked or leaked this one is interesting from the perspective of: if you start from the assumption your user database definitely will be leaked: what design decisions do you make differently These 6 things are different things, not the same thing. they do not require each other nor are they required by each other. - the user doesn’t care if their profile is indefinitely indexed by search engines by any and every old name they have ever had. - the user is definitely some binary gender I mentioned I had a list to someone who happens to be a product manager of a major identity system, who was interested in having a meeting with me- as a trans woman, about how to make these things more inclusive. is there anything here on my list that I have missed?  @zens the user wants to be your user; doesn't instead wish to interface with your design and have capabilities to maintain their own, independent, unobstructed store of information which includes but is not limited to that provided by your design. @deianeira thanks for that, that sorta goes against the premise of the reason for this system’s existence; which is why i should definitely bring this up. @zens Some of my favorite assumptions: @zens Some more bad assumptions, actually about identity this time: - the user is fine with a permanent and immutable URL being generated from their full name. - the user has a title thanks to @chris_evelyn for this one - The user has a fixed home address - the user is never in a foreign city and never will be mugged, their wallet and phone will never be stolen from them - the user will never drop keys down the drain - the user is not homeless, with a phone that has just died, and their only computer is a public access library computer running Internet Explorer 6. - the user is able to afford a monthly subscription to Bitwarden via @alexandria |
- the user will never die
- the user will never be arrested
- the user will never be subject to search and seizure