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I have noticed that you can add a GitHub login to your profile but there is only a "Sign in with GitHub" button on Stack Overflow and not on any other Stack Exchange sites, so you can only use GitHub sign-in on Stack Overflow.

Instead of having Sign in with GitHub on one of the sites only, I would like to have it in all sites, like we have already for Google and Facebook.

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    Odds of an internet user who wants to use the whole SE network having Facebook or Google login: very high. Odds of an internet user who wants to use the whole SE network having a GitHub login: very low. Is it worth doing for SO? Yes. Is it worthwhile for SE? No.
    – Nij
    Dec 23, 2019 at 8:28
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    Same reason why you'd support Launchpad only on Ask Ubuntu, or Steam only on Gaming (planned, but cancelled after Steam removed support for OAuth).
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Dec 23, 2019 at 9:46

5 Answers 5

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Lots of people have Facebook accounts. Most of them are not programmers. The same applies to Google.

GitHub on the other hand is mainly for programmers, and you put code there.

If we put log in with GitHub on Vegetarianism SE or Music: Practise & Theory etc., we'd

  1. Have a feature that would only be used by a small subset of programmers who are also interested in the other sites
  2. Imply that these sites are mainly for programmers when that is not the case

We want everyone with an interest we cater for to feel equally welcome here.

If there is a Stack Exchange programming site where you think having a GitHub login would fit in then ask for it to be enabled via a Meta Question on that site's Meta. If it has local community support then then site moderators should be able to petition for it to be enabled with evidence of its popularity.

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    Is it possible to log-in with github at all on these sites? (aside from logging in on another SE site first.) IMO: it should be possible to log in with any open ID account anywhere, even if it requires clicking on a "more login options" button on the page
    – bobsburner
    Dec 26, 2019 at 14:42
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    Point 1 makes sense, but point 2 is a non-sequitur. That's like me saying "I don't allow customers with BMWs in my parking lot because that implies I mainly serve the wealthy." Besides that, I really fail to see how 'implying' stuff with an extra login option will chase away potential new users. A lot of the non-programmers I meet don't even know what GitHub is. They'd simply use what they know, Google or otherwise.
    – aggregate1166877
    Jan 12, 2022 at 1:21
  • You can't just claim, "GitHub is for programmers, and they post code there." It is usually used to save code, but users also store lecture notes, free educational resources, solutions, databases, blog entries, and other items. Just because it is used different ways in; I mean, just because he has an account there doesn't mean he's a full-time developer who only puts code there. Take a look at me; I merely open issues and add my notes on it; GitHub is an universal repo.
    – NotStanding with GoGotaHome
    Jan 31, 2022 at 6:57
  • People like myself, on the other hand, prefer to grow a plant or learn to play an instrument as much as they enjoy to program; how can you ignore the reality that much people on the above-mentioned connected sites have GitHub accounts?
    – NotStanding with GoGotaHome
    Jan 31, 2022 at 7:13
  • What benefit would SE get by over having something like Google Which is used in more and more different ways used to sign in to StackOverflow or any site instead of using GitHub? I dunno. Is the sole reason users sign in to Stack Overflow using Github is that they get to interchange features over share files? No it is just for the ease, and that is something you should never take off. I am not advocating for GitHub to be available Stack-wide, but just my two cents.
    – NotStanding with GoGotaHome
    Jan 31, 2022 at 7:13
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    "We want everyone with an interest we cater for to feel equally welcome here." I don't understand the logic of this. Vegetarians (and others interested in cooking) often use GitHub to share recipes. Given people the option of Facebook, Google and GitHub doesn't make people feel less welcome (GitHub only - yes but all three probably not). Also, if like me you migrated to GitHub on SO then you end up being locked out of those other communities since you can no longer login with the GitHub credentials - this it could be argued makes programmers less welcome on those other sites.
    – Gazzer
    Jan 31, 2022 at 13:24
  • You seem to be implying that programmers with GitHub accounts tend not to have other interests. This is nonsense. If I'm given the option to login to the SE network with an alternate login (GitHub, Launchpad, Steam, etc.), then I should be able to login to the SE network with my alternate login. Not just the site I tend to use more or used first.
    – rkedge
    Jan 14 at 18:34
  • In this case, how does one with a github account on multiple sites create a new account in a community that does not support github?
    – Origami
    Apr 15 at 2:52
  • You can have more than one login method.
    – Robert Longson
    Apr 15 at 6:45
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Today I was wondering why I can't log in with GitHub on superuser.com when I did this on stackoverflow.com. I would expect to be able to use my account on all sites of Stack Exchange.

I tried to use the "Join this community"-button after making sure I'm logged in on stackoverflow.com as suggested, but that didn't work either.

The solution was to request a new password using the email address which is connected to my GitHub login. I than got an email saying:

This email address is associated with an account, but no password is associated with it yet, so it can’t be used to log in. If you initiated this request, set a password here.

So after setting a password I was able to log in and the account is linked with my Stack Overflow profile.

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    This is due to changes in the way browsers accept cross-site cookies since the earlier answers were posted. In this case, you resolved this by adding an email/password authentication to your account, which works on all sites.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Sep 1, 2022 at 21:45
  • Thanks! I came back to SO/SE after this happened, and couldn't figure out why I could only log in to SO, using my github login. And only being able to ask questions on SO, for an "off topic" question, makes it hard to get answers... But trying the email/pass approach with the github email works just fine (for now)
    – JWCS
    Oct 28, 2022 at 18:33
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While the practical answer has been given, I'm adding this here to answer to help other people that might come across this message: yes, you can log in with your GitHub account on stackoverflow.com, and then the other SE sites will get that same account when you open/refresh them.

So we are just missing a log in button on the other SE sites, it seems. However, the functionality is there.

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  • I'm unable to replicate "yes, you can login with your Github account on StackOverflow.com, and then the other SE sites will get that same account when you open/refresh them" -- in my experience this does not happen. @MauricioR Do you have any instructions we can follow to help confirm what you're suggesting?
    – Marc Tamsky
    Mar 4, 2022 at 20:28
  • This scenario doesn't seem to work. I just tried that: logged on to SO via Github, then reloaded SE site and it didn't noticed it. Still was showing "Login/create account"; so I tried to login via Google and it created a new account. Once I did that, other SE sites started showing "Join this community" instead of "Login" - so they see if I am currently logged on SE sites but not SO for some reason.
    – Andrey Turkin
    Apr 7, 2022 at 5:36
  • I tried it again, and after logging-in to StackOverflow with GitHub, I was able to navigate to StackExchange with no issues. On the very first time I acessed a new SE site it offers to create a profile with the current Open ID provider, and Stack Exchange is on that list. The message that I see is this one: "Confirm your new account You are about to create a new account on Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange using a login from GitHub (_redacted_@_email_.com) We will automatically link this account with your accounts on other Stack Exchange sites."
    – MauricioR
    Apr 8, 2022 at 20:15
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    Changes in the way browsers accept cross-site cookies that took place a month after posting this mean this answer is no longer correct. In short, browsers now require that cross-site cookies be sent with a specific attribute which SE isn't sending.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Sep 1, 2022 at 21:44
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The main reason why this would be useful is that some Stack Overflow features, like going to your full inbox, link to meta Stack Exchange, so you can use Stack Overflow using the GitHub login, but without creating a new account for Meta Stack Exchange you cannot access all the Stack Overflow features, such as the full inbox, which is inaccessible for anyone wanting to use purely the GitHub login.
If features of one site need an account on a different second site, that second site should have at least the same login options as the initial site.

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GitHub homepage says clearly:

GitHub is home to the world’s largest community of developers and their projects...

It's for developers, so people who are interested in cooking, or movies, etc... won't really have any interest in it.

Adding the option for GitHub login for non-SO sites will be just noise.

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    Then you should make it clear when you are adding a GitHub login to your profile that this can only be used on SO.
    – LegendusMaximus
    Dec 23, 2019 at 8:34
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    @LegendusMaximus Why? The majority of people only ever log into SO. Why put a note on that 99% of people don't care about.
    – Robert Longson
    Dec 23, 2019 at 8:35
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    Because the GitHub login goes under a heading clearly labelled "Use any of these logins to sign in or sign up on ANY Stack Exchange site" and that is false information for GitHub login.
    – LegendusMaximus
    Dec 23, 2019 at 8:39
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    @LegendusMaximus no it's not false. Once created, you can use the account on all sites. You just have to be logged in to SO, then click "Join Community" on any other SE site.
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Dec 23, 2019 at 8:42
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    But it says you can login with it on any SE site and if I went on to lets say music.stackexchange.com I would not be able to use that GitHub login which the settings screen of my profile clearly said I could use on "any SE site to login"
    – LegendusMaximus
    Dec 23, 2019 at 8:47
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    @LegendusMaximus like I said, you will see "Join this community" button instead of Login button, here is a screenshot: i.stack.imgur.com/PGinu.png
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Dec 23, 2019 at 8:50
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    What happens if you want to sign in on another device? It's mad having to go to SO, login to that, close that tab and then go to the site you want to use at that time.
    – LegendusMaximus
    Dec 23, 2019 at 8:54
  • Have you tried any of these things? Do you know that isn't possible? Rather than keep asking what about... Have a go yourself and see what works.
    – Robert Longson
    Dec 23, 2019 at 8:56
  • OK I will try out these thins, then post another comment expaining what happened.
    – LegendusMaximus
    Dec 23, 2019 at 9:02
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    You were right about the "Join this community" option but like I said if you log-on with another device there are only two ways to make this work. Method 1 is to have two logins on your profile, one SE one and one GitHub one and to use the SE one to log-in to the other site and the other way is to login to SO with GitHub before logging into any other site on that device.
    – LegendusMaximus
    Dec 23, 2019 at 9:11
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    @Legendus true, but the second option is totally fine, anyone with GitHub account is expected to also have SO account, so that "requirement" makes total sense, in my opinion.
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Dec 24, 2019 at 7:30
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    What happens if someone quickly signs in to SO with GitHub to ask a burning question and then wants to log-on on a different device to another site. SurelySurele you should introduce a "More ways to sign-in" button on SE Auth System so that it is clear GitHub is not a popular option for that site but people can still use it to sign-in.
    – LegendusMaximus
    Dec 24, 2019 at 7:40
  • @LegendusMaximus true, it's not perfect for everyone. But as others said, those who really want/need it are very few, and adding the option just for them will add noise for the majority of users.
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Dec 24, 2019 at 7:54

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