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My account was created with Launchpad. However, it is only possible to login to SE with Launchpad on Ask Ubuntu. Thus, if I want to login to Meta SE, I must

  • Go to Ask Ubuntu
  • Login with Launchpad
  • Go back to meta

This is pretty annoying. Would it be possible to add a Login With Launchpad button to every other site in the network?

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    It used to be possible to login with Yahoo, Wordpress, Blogger and all kinds of services. The amount of options has been reduced. I don't think your request will be implemented.
    – Mast
    Apr 10 at 10:39
  • @Mast That happened because OpenID was dead and those other options were removed for technical reasons, not philosophical reasons, since logging in through any supported provider couldn't flow through a generic process and would have to be implemented individually for each login provider. SE evaluated it and found that 97% of all user accounts across the network were using either Google, Facebook, or email/password login and thus only expended the effort for those three across the network.
    – Sonic the Save Ukraine-hog
    Apr 10 at 10:50
  • (continuing) Some site-specific exemptions were made, such as Launchpad for AU and GitHub for SO, due to support/sponsorship from the respective organizations (Canonical for AU). (There was also a plan to support Steam login for Arqade, but Valve pulled out at the last minute.)
    – Sonic the Save Ukraine-hog
    Apr 10 at 10:52
  • A workaround is to have several user profiles in Firefox. The alternative profile for log in into MSE can easily be launched from "about:profiles" (can be put in a bookmark). I use it on Linux to keep some things separate. There are probably similar mechanisms for other systems.
    – This_is_NOT_a_forum
    Apr 10 at 10:58

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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For all others it would just be noise.

The current login screen is clean and simple.

Starting to add logins from other sites would clutter it, and make it confusing for the vast majority of users.

I really don't think that logging in first in one site is that horrible, and you can also have multiple login options, see in your profile page, when you edit the profile, you have "My logins" tab where you can add more.

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    enable cookies and you'll have smooth transition between the sites...this is no longer possible. Since the beginning of this year, browser vendors have begun requiring websites to send a special HTTP header in order to set cross-site cookies, and SE currently doesn't send that header, which breaks cross-domain authentication until SE starts sending that header.
    – Sonic the Save Ukraine-hog
    Apr 10 at 10:46
  • There's only a limited number of log in options tho and that's the one unique one. SE's got complete control over what they're going to run. When SE were running openid - you could also run an arbitrary openid server... its not going to make things that messy
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Apr 10 at 10:56
  • @Sonic oh my, didn't know it. Thanks, will remove this part.
    – Shadow Wizard Says No More War
    Apr 10 at 11:00
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    Just for the record: SE did have a cluttered login screen with OpenId providers. As a matter of fact, SEDE still does: data.stackexchange.com/account/login?returnurl=/login
    – rene
    Apr 10 at 11:28
  • @rene exactly, I prefer the cleaner one, no need for all that noise that less than 3% of the people would ever use.
    – Shadow Wizard Says No More War
    Apr 10 at 11:37

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