Why is making an account for Square Enix so complicated?

[Ayen]

I popped FFXIV into the PS3 today because I was curious and wanted to try something new. I get to the account page and put in all my information and go to click next, and then I get:

Password cannot attain all upper case, all lower case, all number, or all symbols.

Why?

Uhh... 'cause it makes it easier for people to hack your account?

If someone is going to go through the trouble of hacking my account to the point I have to add random upper case, lower case, numbers, and symbols to improve it then they're going to hack my account regardless. Why can't I just put an easy password I can remember instead of one I'd have to write down and look at every time I want to sign in?

I... Uh. Um. Cannot compute?

How long do I have to wait for my confirmation code to come in? I know I put my email in correctly. I just want to play a game not examine the working function of atoms!

.......why are you talking to yourself in this way?

BECAUSE I'M OCD AS SMURF AND YOUR TROUT AIN'T HELPING ME!

[Fynn]

It's pretty much the standard password requirements for more secure things right now. The instructions don't seem too complicated. Although I'm pretty sure my password has no caps

[Ayen]

It seems a bit excessive, though. Almost like they're designing a video game out of it.

I tried to put in a password, but I failed, and it instructed me how to do it correctly. But what was wrong with my initial password?
I tried to get them to send my confirmation code, but there's a period at the end of my email. Why can't the system tell where my email is just because it has a period at the end of it? To fix it I have to go all the way back and remove the period and try again.

Am I making any sense here?

[Fynn]

A period is a big deal for an email address, just like for browser addresses

[Ayen]

But why? We put periods at the end of our sentences, so why does the rules change with technology?

[Fynn]

Because language and information technology are two different things and the period has a different function linguistically - where it indicates the end of a sentence - and with regard to email addresses, in which they separate specific info.

And honestly, when you're filling out information on a form - like when creating an account - you are not writing sentences, which is why you should not end them with a period, if you wanna get anal about the grammar side of things.

[Ayen]

They can't detect a full stop?

[Shauna]

Periods are used as part of webpages (eg .com, .co.uk, .org) so the program will recognise any incorrect ones added in as part of the email address because it's not an unrecognised symbol for email/webpages. It won't reject what is considered "correct".

[Ayen]

So you'd have to reprogram it to fix the problem? Update it, essentially?

[Shauna]

It's not a problem, really? It's doing what it should do, which is to recognise what characters can be part of an email address. Which includes periods. So if you mistype a period, well, that's on you.

[Ayen]

But why can't the computer detect an incorrect addition and correct it to proceed with the command regardless of the human's mistake? Or better yet, why not just add another period?

http://home.eyesonff.com
http://home.eyesonff.com.

Like that.

[Fynn]

Why and why not is really not the issue here because nobody here is really responsible for how things work on the Internet

Can't you just not type in that period?

[Shauna]

Because it doesn't know if it's incorrect? Should it just start disregarding all periods in email addresses just in case there's lots more human error littered throughout the email address entered? The program will take what you entered and send an email to it - if you make a mistake, again, that's on you.

Which happens. There is a reason that "human error" is a term.

[Ayen]

I could, but that's less of a solution and more me just accepting and adapting to the software. What's wrong with the period in the above link?


Because it doesn't know if it's incorrect? Should it just start disregarding all periods in email addresses just in case there's lots more human error littered throughout the email address entered? The program will take what you entered and send an email to it - if you make a mistake, again, that's on you.

Which happens. There is a reason that "human error" is a term.

But that's basically what automatic spellchecks do with letters already.

[Fynn]

And of course, you know exactly how these mechanisms work and how to go around them?


I could, but that's less of a solution and more me just accepting and adapting to the software. What's wrong with the period in the above link?

You... you want to fight the power? Of being unable to put a period at the end of an email address when creating an FFXIV account?

[Ayen]

I don't know anything. That's why I'm asking questions. Every time you guys applied logic and reasoning to your post in a discussion I've stopped. Because I couldn't debunk you. I learned and grew accordingly. That's what I'm doing here. Trying to learn and grow accordingly. I don't claim to know anything.

[Mirage]

How would the computer know whether you simply added a period too many, or forgot something else in the address? Other possible domains are com.com, or com.uk, for example. Adding another period tells the program/web page that it should expect even more letters. Maybe you forgot a second com instead?

Syntax exists to weed out misunderstandings. You couldn't end it with a period because it opens up for more possible mistakes to be made. If not by you, by others. There is no spell check on email addresses because there are literally thousands of weird combinations that look like typos but are in fact valid addresses.

To a human, it's not very difficult to figure out that when someone says "my address is ayen at gemail com", they really meant "ayen@gmail.com", just because that's a very common email provider. However, there are addresses such as ayenat@gemail.com" too, and this person would be pretty pissed if everytime they tried to enter their email address, it would be stored as "ayen@gmail.com" instead.

[Shauna]

But spellcheckers don't work with emails because it's up to the user what they put in as an email address?

madeupnonsense.a.b.c.d.e.blergahlot@cool.super.mail.co.uk could be a valid email address which fails a spellcheck. Should that just be rejected outright because it failed a spellcheck? Because it has more periods in it than expected?

This program is designed to just send an email to whatever email address the user inputs. It is up to the user to make sure that is correct, not the program.

[Ayen]

The only way the computer could ever make that kind of judgment is if it had consciousness. But you can't give a computer consciousness, that only thing happens in Sci-Fi. It would need a human to assist if you go that far, but humans can't be online 24/7 for obvious reasons, unless you replaced them with more machines but that gets you back in the same area. There's no logical way to win.

I'm starting to understand.

[Shauna]

Just because it's a computer doesn't mean it has to be smart. This sort of system is designed to be simple and stupid, so that it itself will make minimal errors.

[Ayen]

I was assuming it had to be smart based on ignorance. I was making an excuse not to play my part without fully realizing it. All I had to do was correct the information and I'd be playing the game instead of having this conversation. The answer was staring me in the face the whole time. I'm going to reapply at a later date and play some FFXIV.

Thanks, guys. I think I just need to go to college. I'm working on a high school diploma from a home school.

[Fynn]

Make sure to pick Sargatanas as your server! It's in the Aether data center. Then we can play together if you ever want to!

[Ayen]

Technology and I are still at a misunderstanding.

I've narrowed it down to a security question. One word. I eliminated periods, extra space, and all lower case letters as the cause. What am I missing?

[Loony BoB]

Don't you get any kind of error message?