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So myOpenID appears to be a bit up and down right now, and recently Janrain tweeted they are not supporting it anymore after fixing an earlier problem:

Screenshot of tweet from Janrain

While it's been dead (or at least severely flaky) for some time I hadn't noticed until now as I generally use Stack Overflow from one laptop, and that has stayed logged in.

I only noticed the issue when I tried to log into the Careers site just now.

You've provided a very easy remedy, through the My Logins page, however this is only any use if you realise there's a problem while you are able to log in or are currently logged in.

If I'd cleared my cookies (which is very possible as I develop on this machine) I'd have been locked out, and I assume would have had to email a support email address to get back into my account.

Therefore it would be worth publicising the loss of myOpenID to Stack Overflow/Stack Exchange users while they are logged in, along with a note on how to avoid problems. You could target this at those users who have a myOpenID login registered, particularly those who have only myOpenID. These users would be able to fix their own accounts, and avoid generating a bunch of support traffic.

(It might also be worth removing it from the list on the login screen, or at least handling what happens when you click on it with a nice explanation rather than the current fail messages).

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    The few sites that do not let you use multiple logins or merge accounts should be fixed. Data.SE is the one I most would like to see fixed.
    – Martijn Pieters
    Commented Jul 20, 2013 at 22:18
  • If I understand correctly, then Careers (also) might want its own set of logins? (Not using it; might be quite nasty if one cannot log in for days, or never again...)
    – Arjan
    Commented Jul 21, 2013 at 12:34
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    It's back right now -- good time to remove any profile icon, get a list of sites where you used it on myopenid.com/sites, change the logins on those sites, and finally delete your account. (Wow, I actually had "I want to be on the myOpenID mailing list" enabled. If any announcement about dropping support was made, then it's probably in a spam folder...)
    – Arjan
    Commented Jul 21, 2013 at 15:36
  • @MartijnPieters I suppose I could try and get to that later today. :P
    – Tim Stone
    Commented Jul 21, 2013 at 19:19
  • When you send out a notification, can you please include recommendations for alternatives that you are confident about? This is the only OpenID I have, and I created it because (IIRC) S.O. required it at the time, and MyOpenID was the recommended provider for people who didn't have one already. I imagine that a "StackExchange account" is probably the recommended option these days(?), but some information about the options would be appreciated.
    – phils
    Commented Jul 26, 2013 at 1:43

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Even though we aren't responsible for any third-party support or lack thereof, MyOpenID affects Stack Exchange users, so yes, it is a good idea for us to warn people that they might want to move away from it.

I'm exploring what the best way to reach users who only access Stack Exchange through MyOpenID. We will prompt them in some manner to add an alternative login method to their accounts and let them know that MyOpenID could go down at any time, for an unknown period of time.

UPDATE: I've posted an announcement here on MSO about the fact that MyOpenID is essentially going away. That will draw some attention to the matter and provide detailed instructions on how to add a new login method to your account. We'll be sending notifications soon to users who only have MyOpenID logins on their SE accounts.

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    Nice. As for "users who only access [...] through MyOpenID" -- if it's a requirement for SE not to target too many users, then I can agree with that. However, if you feel like it's in the user's interest not to be warned unless really required, then maybe reconsider that: I wouldn't mind getting a warning even if on SE it would only be my backup login, if only as then I'd still want to create a better backup account. (In fact, it was exactly like that for me: until I created a SE OpenID account as the backup 2 days ago, I had myOpenID as the backup.)
    – Arjan
    Commented Jul 23, 2013 at 21:17
  • By the way: if in the process you somehow get in touch with Janrain (hard, for what I've heard), then please urge them to make a more public statement, and ask them to remove myopenid.com/signup... Success!
    – Arjan
    Commented Jul 23, 2013 at 21:18
  • @Laura: That's all fair - it wasn't really myOpenID directly that I was aiming at, it was the effect on SE users as you say, and, by knock-on, SE mods/administrators when people get locked out.
    – Jon Egerton
    Commented Jul 23, 2013 at 22:44
  • I think you should probably also notify users who used their MyOpenID log-in more recently than any other log-in. If a user has another way to log in but has forgotten the password for it, they are effectively in the same boat as people who do not have an alternative.
    – phils
    Commented Aug 12, 2013 at 3:39

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