Log-in problems

Question

I think the log-in system can be improved. I am always logged in on facebook, but I use another facebook account for superuser, stackoverflow, etc.

When I want to log in, it is impossible to log in on the right account! I admit this is a pretty specific situation, but there may be more people experiencing this problem. My solution, for now, is to go to incognito mode, where I'm not logged in to facebook.

Could this perhaps be changed to a system where you choose to login with a different facebook account? Or is this simply impossible because you can only be logged in to facebook with one account at a time?

Answer 1

Quite simply any sso relying on an external site needs you to be logged on to that site - SE then asks the site if the current login is valid, the site checks the credential SE supplies and your current log-in and bob's your uncle, else no. You don't want the Alternate Mon Kee Poo logging in as the real Mon Kee Poo would you (hmm Mon Kee Poo... that sounds just like...) . If you want the technical details - see wikipedia.

So, no you can't - you will just have to use another openid log in credential (you can have more than one login credential if they're from different places) when you're logged into your other facebook account. That way you can switch between facebook accounts and still log into SE.

I also recall SE does (did?) run its own openid provider , AKA a stack exchange account - you can also do that.

Answer 2

The single sign on / global auth system expects that you want to either be logged in, or out of, the network as a whole.

While we do permit you to have multiple accounts (not just profiles, but actual accounts that don't share credentials) as long as they don't do favors for one another, it's probably not going to get any more convenient to manage them without using incognito mode or a different browser entirely. We have to develop for our use case, and that use case is at a network level.

Another thing you can do is explore the use of browser profiles, because I do understand how frustrating it can be - I have Google accounts for both personal and work use, which gets a tad unruly.

Still, the simplest thing to do is just use incognito / private mode, and keep track of which window you're in.