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Encrypting a password is a bad idea. People still do it. People will ask about it on SO. They will (hopefully get an answer telling them why it's a bad idea).

So all in all, I think that the existence of this tag is better than the alternative (which is that there will still be questions about the topic, but they can't easily be identified).

But, the tag wiki (and it's summary) of is ... lacking, to be honest. I think this tag could really profit from a well-written summary of the issues of this topic (and ideally a prototypical question/answer "How do I encrypt my passwords?").

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    So....write it? – Bart Jan 22 '13 at 14:41
  • I was afraid that this would come. But that's not really my area. I know in general what should be done, but I don't feel I have enough in-depth knowledge to write the authoritative wiki on this topic. – Joachim Sauer Jan 22 '13 at 14:47
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    Temporary suggestion: thou shalt not encrypt passwords. (or maybe we can find a SO or Security.SE question dealing with the topic, and link to that?) – Pekka Jan 22 '13 at 14:49
  • I'm sympathetic to that feeling, for certain, but it's probably better to have an in-general pass such as you or I might write than what's there now. And it would provide a framework for more knowledgeable people to improve. That's the virtue of wikis. – pjmorse Jan 22 '13 at 14:49
  • I just made a quick edit along the lines suggested by @Pekka. Smarter folks are encouraged to do better. – pjmorse Jan 22 '13 at 14:54
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    @JoachimSauer It was admittedly a bit tongue-in-cheek. ;) But perhaps starting an outline might not be beyond your abilities? Perhaps that would attract attention/help? – Bart Jan 22 '13 at 15:08
  • I've added to the tag wiki. – user207421 Jan 23 '13 at 1:30

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