# A question for IT/ITish people about temporary passwords

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-it-itish-people-about-temporary-passwords/744806>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 1, 2016, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-it-itish-people-about-temporary-passwords/744806 "2016-02-01T02:23:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-it-itish-people-about-temporary-passwords/744806/1 "2016-02-01T02:23:35Z")

</div>

Do you encounter people who are under the impression that a temporary password has magical properties too? I’d always been under the impression that grown ass adults understand that temporary means short-term, but over the past few years at work I’ve run into lots who express surprise that temporary passwords no longer function after you pick a permanent password. Then I have to explain that once you change your password, you have to use that password - the temporary one can’t be used instead of it.

Do I work with a special breed of idiot, or is this actually a common misconception?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-it-itish-people-about-temporary-passwords/744806/2 "2016-02-01T06:39:46Z")

</div>

I haven’t run across that weird little quirk with my users, but I wonder if some websites or web apps don’t contribute as there are some that can run you through their “I forgot my password” process, send you a new password and it’s simply a new password, rather than a use it once and be forced to change it temporary password.

Password complexity, however, confuses a lot of people, even when you tell them that their password must be between six and eight characters long, must start with a letter, must have at least one number and one “special” character. I’d issue a temp, and then hear them banging away, only to complain that the system said “bad password” Invariably, when I asked how long their new password was, they’d say something like ten or fourteen, to which I’d respond “is that between six and eight characters long?”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-it-itish-people-about-temporary-passwords/744806/3 "2016-02-01T23:12:57Z")

</div>

So, special idiots, then.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-it-itish-people-about-temporary-passwords/744806/4 "2016-02-02T00:00:11Z")

</div>

Special breed of idiots, yes. I call them “users”.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-it-itish-people-about-temporary-passwords/744806/5 "2016-02-02T22:30:46Z")

</div>

If I’m particularly cranky, they’re (l)users and they always lie.

Last week I was doing a screenshare with a remote user to troubleshoot a problem. They launched a web application and it asked for their login credentials, at which point they asked me, “What should I do?” Oh, the comments I could have made!