# Website signup no longer asking for the password twice? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 3, 2019, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-signup-no-longer-asking-for-the-password-twice/827171 "2019-01-03T23:50:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2019, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-signup-no-longer-asking-for-the-password-twice/827171/1 "2019-01-03T23:50:28Z")
In the past every website wants you to choose a username, password, and then confirm the password. They must match perfectly. Now in the past couple months many just ask for the password once. Is this a new web design standard, or did I just hit some [Baader-Meinhoff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases#Frequency_illusion) situation and multiple websites decided to do the same thing independently? ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-signup-no-longer-asking-for-the-password-twice/827171/2 "2019-01-04T00:02:36Z")
I must say I have not seen that, but it seems like it would go hand-in-hand with the current trend of providing an option not to have the password starred out as you type it. The two-password-field thing is primarily a defense against making a typo when you set your password and not knowing it because you can’t see it. Not starring out your password is just an acknowledgment that people shoulder-surfing your password as you set it is not as big an attack vector as people thought it would be in the 90s. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-signup-no-longer-asking-for-the-password-twice/827171/3 "2019-01-04T00:25:51Z")
I haven’t seen that specifically. I have seen that strong password thing where they choose it for you and then your browser remembers it. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-signup-no-longer-asking-for-the-password-twice/827171/4 "2019-01-04T00:28:20Z")
Some examples, though I didn’t write down all of them I’ve encountered: [IFTTT](https://ifttt.com/join) (click the small sign up below the Google sign in) [Fabric](http://www.meetfabric.com) [Humble Bundle](https://www.humblebundle.com/) I can guess why this has changed, but not the how. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-signup-no-longer-asking-for-the-password-twice/827171/5 "2019-01-04T00:48:43Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > Not starring out your password is just an acknowledgment that people shoulder-surfing your password as you set it is not as big an attack vector as people thought it would be in the 90s. Sidetrack: In the 1970s, I used the PLATO system, a very early interactive multi-user system. When you entered a password, for each letter you typed, it would display a random number of X’s, between 1 and 3. The idea was that someone shoulder-surfing you would not only not see the password, but probably couldn’t even tell how many characters it contained. I haven’t seen that particular paranoia since then. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-signup-no-longer-asking-for-the-password-twice/827171/6 "2019-01-04T01:22:50Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Sidetrack: In the 1970s, I used the PLATO system, a very early interactive multi-user system. When you entered a password, for each letter you typed, it would display a random number of X’s, between 1 and 3. The idea was that someone shoulder-surfing you would not only not see the password, but probably couldn’t even tell how many characters it contained. I haven’t seen that particular paranoia since then. But also remember that way-back-when video terminals were not that common. Most people were logging in on paper-printing terminals. So you didn’t want the password printed in the clear on a roll of paper that bad guys could find in the waste basket or in piles behind the terminal. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-signup-no-longer-asking-for-the-password-twice/827171/7 "2019-01-04T01:41:52Z")
True, but PLATO used plasma display terminals, not paper. Actually, the plasma display was invented for PLATO terminals. PLATO was quite advanced for its time in many ways.