Why is it so common for websites requiring logins to force users who do not want to be remembered to repeatedly opt out of being remembered? Which is to say, if I am being forced to opt out of being remembered in the first place, why not have the decency to remember my desire to be forgotten the next time I try to log in?
The idea seems harmless if not thought through all the way: i.e. let's precheck the remember me option by default that way the (let's say 75% of) users who want to be remembered do not even have to check it to opt in:
In theory this seems convenient because the majority of users were saved from checking this box a single time. And if - after unchecking this box - users like myself weren't repeatedly greeted with the same rechecked box, unchecking it once the first time wouldn't be that big of a deal.
However, be it through inconsistencies in browser caching, programmer's error, or a sheer mercenary push to lower the barrier to a site just that little bit more, somehow probably half of the sites I visit that force this opt-out reforce me to opt out again and again.
The seeming paradox in this scenario is that the websites that do remember to not remember me have actually remembered me to a certain extent. They have stored some bit of data that reminds their home page to uncheck the box, but have not stored my username or other credentials. To me this seems completely reasonable since they have likely only saved some randomly generated string in my browser's local storage; nothing that could be used to identify me personally, but something unique enough to where their home page knows that the user of my browser (whoever it may be) does not wish to be remembered.
If the box were unchecked to begin with this paradoxicality would vanish. Quite simply, if the user checks the box then remember them and precheck the box from then on out, otherwise do neither. In this scenario there is no need to store any data for the latter user, which is technically truer to the meaning signified by an unchecked remember me option.
This is of course how I wish all websites that wanted to remember me behaved. However, if this is simply not possible, if remember me must absolutely be opt-out by default, then after opting out the first time I should never have to opt out again.
All I am asking is: please remember to not remember me.
The idea seems harmless if not thought through all the way: i.e. let's precheck the remember me option by default that way the (let's say 75% of) users who want to be remembered do not even have to check it to opt in:
Remember Me
In theory this seems convenient because the majority of users were saved from checking this box a single time. And if - after unchecking this box - users like myself weren't repeatedly greeted with the same rechecked box, unchecking it once the first time wouldn't be that big of a deal.
However, be it through inconsistencies in browser caching, programmer's error, or a sheer mercenary push to lower the barrier to a site just that little bit more, somehow probably half of the sites I visit that force this opt-out reforce me to opt out again and again.
The seeming paradox in this scenario is that the websites that do remember to not remember me have actually remembered me to a certain extent. They have stored some bit of data that reminds their home page to uncheck the box, but have not stored my username or other credentials. To me this seems completely reasonable since they have likely only saved some randomly generated string in my browser's local storage; nothing that could be used to identify me personally, but something unique enough to where their home page knows that the user of my browser (whoever it may be) does not wish to be remembered.
If the box were unchecked to begin with this paradoxicality would vanish. Quite simply, if the user checks the box then remember them and precheck the box from then on out, otherwise do neither. In this scenario there is no need to store any data for the latter user, which is technically truer to the meaning signified by an unchecked remember me option.
Remember Me
This is of course how I wish all websites that wanted to remember me behaved. However, if this is simply not possible, if remember me must absolutely be opt-out by default, then after opting out the first time I should never have to opt out again.
All I am asking is: please remember to not remember me.