change your password day

[Roedy Green]

The Australian government recommends changing your passwords at least
twice a year. They even have a "change your password day", I think in
early June. Does anyone know exactly when it is, how you compute when
it is, and when it was first "celebrated"?

Oddly I could not discover this with 30 minutes of Googling and
sending an email to the government department.
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
http://mindprod.com

"The telephone is the greatest single enemy of scholarship; for what our intellectual forebears used to inscribe in ink now goes once over a wire into permanent oblivion."
~ Dr. Stephen Jay Gould (born: 1941-09-10 died: 2002-05-02 at age: 60)

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

The Australian government recommends changing your passwords at least
twice a year. They even have a "change your password day", I think in
early June. Does anyone know exactly when it is, how you compute when
it is, and when it was first "celebrated"?

Oddly I could not discover this with 30 minutes of Googling and
sending an email to the government department.

And this is relevant for Java because ??

Arne

PS: http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/media/speeches/2009/020

 

[Mike Schilling]

The Australian government recommends changing your passwords at least
twice a year. They even have a "change your password day", I think in
early June. Does anyone know exactly when it is, how you compute when
it is, and when it was first "celebrated"?

There's a website that describes all this, but I can't seem to log into it.

 

[Roedy Green]

There's a website that describes all this, but I can't seem to log into it.

I found that. I wrote to them. Seems for a government website to
require a secret password to get public info.
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
http://mindprod.com

"The telephone is the greatest single enemy of scholarship; for what our intellectual forebears used to inscribe in ink now goes once over a wire into permanent oblivion."
~ Dr. Stephen Jay Gould (born: 1941-09-10 died: 2002-05-02 at age: 60)

 

[Roedy Green]

And this is relevant for Java because ??

Because passwords are crucial to the management of Java-based
websites. They are part of the skillset required of all Java
programmers.

They are not off-topic is the same sense cheap blue jeans, knock off
watches or sex toys are.
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
http://mindprod.com

"The telephone is the greatest single enemy of scholarship; for what our intellectual forebears used to inscribe in ink now goes once over a wire into permanent oblivion."
~ Dr. Stephen Jay Gould (born: 1941-09-10 died: 2002-05-02 at age: 60)

 

[Roedy Green]

And this is relevant for Java because ??

If you interpreted the topic guidelines rigidly, you could only
discuss the Java language and the standard class libraries. 3rd party
libraries, optional libraries, algorithms, JSP... would all be off
topic. This would be pretty dull and repetitive.

Someone could not ask about *.tld files for tags for example because
they are XML, not Java.

In my view, newsgroups represent a community that have a common pool
of knowledge. It makes sense to ask questions from that common pool.
That view admits a broader permissible range of topics.

Once a conversation gets going, drift is inevitable. That's where you
are most likely to learn something new.

To avoid wasting others's time, I think it important to reveal the
topic clearly in the title line. Then people can easily avoid the
topic if it is not of interest. Quite often I bypass posts ON topic.
The sort of title that deserves mild censure is "I need help" or
"Program not working". Usually this signifies a clueless newbie who
has no idea what his problem is.

I get more steamed than most by ads for completely unrelated good
posted. Some people seem even more annoyed by mildly off topic posts
than by these pests.

There have been days go by without a new topic introduced. Under these
low traffic conditions, I don't think it necessary to be rigid. I
notice the more specific groups have withered away, and people are
asking their JDBC questions for example in comp.lang.java.programmer.
If the traffic increases, then it would be appropriate to push that
stuff back into its own newsgroup and tighten up topic specificity.

I also think that people who post a lot should be given more latitude.
It would not make sense to join some other newsgroup where they are
unknown and ignorable just to ask one question, when they strongly
suspect someone in their home territory knows the answer. If they
have never posted before, and they ask an off-topic question, best to
send them to a different group where they can become established and
ask similar questions.
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
http://mindprod.com

"The telephone is the greatest single enemy of scholarship; for what our intellectual forebears used to inscribe in ink now goes once over a wire into permanent oblivion."
~ Dr. Stephen Jay Gould (born: 1941-09-10 died: 2002-05-02 at age: 60)

 

[Roedy Green]

Here's a hint: if you on a regular basis find yourself having to defend
posts described by others as "off-topic" (and you do), you really should
consider that your idea of "on-topic" really isn't the same as the rest of
the community's, and that you should try harder to keep your off-topic
impulses under control.

You could either plonk me or delete those threads. You don't. Ask
yourself why.
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
http://mindprod.com

"The telephone is the greatest single enemy of scholarship; for what our intellectual forebears used to inscribe in ink now goes once over a wire into permanent oblivion."
~ Dr. Stephen Jay Gould (born: 1941-09-10 died: 2002-05-02 at age: 60)

 

[Roedy Green]

The same thing could be said for paying your bills on time. That doesn't
make it relevant for the Java programming newsgroup.

I get the impression your motive in debate is primarily putting others
down. The topic is almost irrelevant.
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
http://mindprod.com

"The telephone is the greatest single enemy of scholarship; for what our intellectual forebears used to inscribe in ink now goes once over a wire into permanent oblivion."
~ Dr. Stephen Jay Gould (born: 1941-09-10 died: 2002-05-02 at age: 60)

 

[Roedy Green]

I already explained that: killfiling you doesn't get rid of the threads,
because unlike the regular spam, people still reply to your posts.

does not your newsreader let you mark a thread as "ignore"?
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
http://mindprod.com

"The telephone is the greatest single enemy of scholarship; for what our intellectual forebears used to inscribe in ink now goes once over a wire into permanent oblivion."
~ Dr. Stephen Jay Gould (born: 1941-09-10 died: 2002-05-02 at age: 60)

 

[Martin Gregorie]

On that note, an article I find interesting:
<http://www.baekdal.com/articles/Usability/password-security-usability>

Too bad alot of places don't allow spaces.

Good article. Thanks for posting the link.

When it comes to stopping automated cracks, I always liked a trick that
DEC's VMS used: after three consecutive failed login attempts the login
program stopped trying to apply the username/password combo but went on
prompting - this way the would be cracker never knew he was getting
nowhere and, because this was in the dial-up era, ended up with a big
phone bill as well. The account remained locked out until the sysadmin
reset it.

 

[Dave Searles]

I get the impression your motive in debate is primarily putting others
down. The topic is almost irrelevant.

I concur.

 

[Wojtek]

Roedy Green wrote :

In my view, newsgroups represent a community that have a common pool
of knowledge. It makes sense to ask questions from that common pool.
That view admits a broader permissible range of topics.

Except that this is not a pub. It is more like a "Birds of a Feather"
discussion.

In a pub the topics can be far ranging. In BoF the topics are held to
the BoF purpose.

Besides, you have a ready made, high traffic (I think) site for things
like this, where YOU have the option of naming the topic groups.

Set up a forum, start these types of topics, and enjoy.

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

Because passwords are crucial to the management of Java-based
websites.

Check the name of the group.

It says PROGRAMMING.

Best practices for server admins belong in another group.

Most likely not in a Java group at all, since the problem
is not specific for Java at all.

They are part of the skillset required of all Java
programmers.

So is finding the power-on key on the PC and using a fork
to put food in the mouth.

None of the 3 are on topic.

Arne

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

If you interpreted the topic guidelines rigidly, you could only
discuss the Java language and the standard class libraries. 3rd party
libraries, optional libraries, algorithms, JSP... would all be off
topic. This would be pretty dull and repetitive.

Someone could not ask about *.tld files for tags for example because
they are XML, not Java.

This is comp.lang.java.programmer not comp.lang.c - if the question
is about Java programming it is considered on topic - if it involves
Java programming, then most likely none will complain.

But password policies are way off topic.

In my view, newsgroups represent a community that have a common pool
of knowledge. It makes sense to ask questions from that common pool.
That view admits a broader permissible range of topics.

According to your logic then we should only have one big group
for all usenet.

We do not. For good reasons. People follow groups because they
are interested in a specific topic.

People read cljp because they are interested in Java programming.

If they were interested in server administration, then they would
read another group.

To avoid wasting others's time, I think it important to reveal the
topic clearly in the title line. Then people can easily avoid the
topic if it is not of interest.

Topics should be descriptive.

But that does not make off topics OK.

I get more steamed than most by ads for completely unrelated good
posted. Some people seem even more annoyed by mildly off topic posts
than by these pests.

There is no point in replying to regular spam, because the posters
does not read it.

You obviously read replies.

There have been days go by without a new topic introduced. Under these
low traffic conditions, I don't think it necessary to be rigid.

The traffic in cljp is relative high - around 2000-4000 posts
per months.

But even if it had been 2-4 posts per months, then server admin
posts would still be off topic and should not be posted here.

I also think that people who post a lot should be given more latitude.

You could just as well argue that people that post a lot should
know what is on and off topic a lot better.



Anyway I strongly disagree with the elitarian view that there
are A and B users and that the rules only applies to B users.

It would not make sense to join some other newsgroup where they are
unknown and ignorable just to ask one question, when they strongly
suspect someone in their home territory knows the answer.

Given the years of experience several people in cljp has, then
it is most likely that someone will know the answer to most
IT questions.

But it is highly disrespectful to post the questions here anyway.
They read here to read about Java. If they were interested in
in seeing questions about server admin, then they would also
be capable of reading a relevant group.

If they
have never posted before, and they ask an off-topic question, best to
send them to a different group where they can become established and
ask similar questions.

Same for those that have made 10000 posts.

Arne

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

You could either plonk me or delete those threads. You don't. Ask
yourself why.

It is a poor defense for off topic posts that readers can just
use their kill file.

They should not have to. You should stay on topic.

Arne

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

I get the impression your motive in debate is primarily putting others
down. The topic is almost irrelevant.

Actually explaining why server admin questions are off topic in cljp
is on topic.

Unlike the question bout server admin.

Arne

 

[David Segall]

The Australian government recommends changing your passwords at least
twice a year. They even have a "change your password day", I think in
early June. Does anyone know exactly when it is, how you compute when
it is, and when it was first "celebrated"?

Oddly I could not discover this with 30 minutes of Googling and
sending an email to the government department.

I'm in Australia and had never heard of this "day" but since
Google takes into account the source of the query finding the
information you requested was easy for me
<http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25591599-15306,00.html>.
The inaugural date was 5 June 2009. You will have to ask Senator
Conroy's office <http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/> or department
when, or if, the day will be repeated.

 

[Wojtek]

Roedy Green wrote :

I also think that people who post a lot should be given more latitude.

Group : comp.lang.java.programmer
Computing time : 00:03:42
Statistics : from 1991.02.05 to 2009.09.16

***** Users with most messages *****
num| Name | Nb Msg | size | or. | %
----|-----------------------------|--------|------------|-----|--------|
1 | Roedy Green | 10,018 | 19,438,158 | 738 | 6.18%
|
2 | Lew | 9,606 | 25,665,679 | 222 | 5.92%
|
3 | Arne Vajhøj | 6,136 | 14,326,454 | 19 | 3.78%
|
4 | Andrew Thompson | 5,211 | 10,777,113 | 311 | 3.21%
|
5 | Oliver Wong | 2,627 | 6,976,008 | 102 | 1.62%
|
6 | Patricia Shanahan | 2,284 | 5,944,951 | 30 | 1.41%
|
7 | Chris Uppal | 2,259 | 5,381,696 | 95 | 1.39%
|
8 | Daniel Pitts | 2,251 | 6,258,700 | 78 | 1.39%
|
9 | Mark Space | 1,987 | 4,902,131 | 32 | 1.23%
|
10 | Mike Schilling | 1,729 | 4,422,652 | 35 | 1.07%
|
11 | Andreas Leitgeb | 1,441 | 3,102,448 | 31 | 0.89%
|
12 | Tom Anderson | 1,392 | 4,294,710 | 15 | 0.86%
|
13 | Eric Sosman | 1,377 | 4,253,920 | 17 | 0.85%
|
14 | (e-mail address removed) | 1,371 | 4,890,108 | 2 | 0.85%
|
15 | Knute Johnson | 1,205 | 3,328,341 | 53 | 0.74%
|
16 | Joshua Cranmer | 1,170 | 2,995,254 | 17 | 0.72%
|
17 | Stefan Ram | 1,145 | 2,746,456 | 75 | 0.71%
|
18 | Thomas Hawtin | 1,143 | 2,754,991 | 67 | 0.70%
|
19 | Gordon Beaton | 1,061 | 1,882,607 | 32 | 0.65%
|
20 | Twisted | 1,035 | 3,807,710 | 28 | 0.64%
|

 

[Wojtek]

Roedy Green wrote :

They even have a "change your password day",

This is a terrible idea.

Black hats will know when you change your password and ANYTHING which
gives them more information is a Bad Thing(tm)

We rotate our passwords, but the exact number of days between changes
is sightly randomized.

 

[Jerry Gerrone]

Roedy Green wrote :


Group : comp.lang.java.programmer
Computing time : 00:03:42
Statistics : from 1991.02.05 to 2009.09.16

***** Users with most messages *****
 num| Name                        | Nb Msg | size       | or. | %
----|-----------------------------|--------|------------|-----|--------|
 14 | (e-mail address removed)        |  1,371 |  4,890,108 |   2 |  0.85%
|
 20 |Twisted                    |  1,035 |  3,807,710 |  28 |  0.64%

Yikes, and even though I hardly post here anymore.

What's Oliver Wong doing in position number 5? Nobody by that name
posts here, and I don't recall anyone with that name except for a
comp.emacs flamer that paid a brief visit four or five years ago.
There's no way that nut posted over 2500 articles in one flamewar.

Of course, combining my own entries puts me in the number six spot and
bumps Patricia down to number seven.

Fewer posts than Oliver Wrong, and more of them on topic.