▲ 2 points

Ask HN: Ask new users for email, or email and pw, or email, username, and pw?

by nadermx·9y ago·1 comments·view on hn ↗

Currently trying to launch a new web app. I'm a bit torn between the 3 examples.

Basecamp asks for just email, then if you abandon during the next step they send you a email with your account url that replaces your name with email.

DigitalOcean asks for email and password

Github asks for email, username, and password.

I know the answer is "it depends" but I'm more so looking for general explanations on which would be best and why.

Do you need to publish a user handle? If not, you do not need a username, just a meaningless identifier. If yes, do not assume that e-mail address is intended to be public (Github e-mail is in commits anyway, SO e-mail is not).

Do you provide a method for adding/changing/removing an e-mail address? (They're mutable and impermanent, e.g. work/school provided ones)