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Sometimes OpenID providers end their services, like GetOpenID and MyOpenID did. How do I add or remove login methods so I don't get locked out of my Stack Exchange account?

For more information, see "How do I add or remove login credentials from my account?" in the Help Center.

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  • @animuson if this is no longer faq, should we remove Return to FAQ index? Aug 2, 2015 at 21:58

4 Answers 4

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My solution for this. If you have your own domain name, then you can use the delegate feature to set up yourself as your OpenID provider. This way if the OpenID provider you are using decides to shut down, or they have some big security breach, you can very easily switch providers without switching your on all sites that use OpenID. All you have to do is set up a page, like http://www.example.com/myopenid.html and use that. Personally, I've set up a subdomain, and just set up an index.html file to do the delegation, so my OpenID looks more like http://openid.example.com. The code for doing the delegate (StackExchange in this case) is below.

<html>
    <head>
        <link rel="openid2.provider" href="https://openid.stackexchange.com/openid/provider">
        <link rel="openid2.local_id" href="https://openid.stackexchange.com/user/#YOURLOCALID#">
    </head>
    <body>
    </body>
<html>

You can get #YOURLOCALID# after registering with StackExchange by pressing the "Use your own URL to Login" button.

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  • Note that nowadays instead of creating an account on MyOpenID, you should register on stackexchange (especially if your main use of your OpenID is stackexchange related). It also supports delegating: blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/01/…
    – SztupY
    Jul 29, 2013 at 9:27
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Don't forget that Stack Exchange is now an Open ID provider themselves.

If your only use of Open ID happens to be for Stack Exchange, then it's probably worth registering and switching over to the "local" provider.

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Additional to @Kibbee: If you really have your own domain name, it's easy to be your own OpenID provider. You'll get the warm feeling that the internet stays a decentralized network and are immune to shutdowns of other services.

There are plenty of applications out there which do that. I personally use SimpleID and am satisfied with it (not even a database needed, and has support for multiple IDs).

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  • Thanks for the info on this. When SO originally started I looked for a way to be my own OpenID provider, but couldn't find any scripts that just worked. I'll check this out.
    – Kibbee
    Jun 15, 2011 at 14:11
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Login information is top-level; changing your login information on one Stack Exchange site will automatically change it for all other Stack Exchange profiles associated with that account.

You must be logged into your account when you begin this process. (This information is also available in the Help Center.)

Open up your user profile page (by clicking on your user name at the top of the screen) and click the "my logins" link above the bio box on the right hand side. my logins

You should see a list of all of your logins.

To add a new login, click "add more logins..." at the bottom of the box. Choose the new login from the list and follow the steps to confirm. edit logins

You can remove your obsolete OpenID login by clicking the same "my logins" link, then clicking "remove" next to the login information you'd like to delete.

If you are adding a Stack Exchange OpenID, you will receive a confirmation email. You must click the link in the email to confirm your email address before the Stack Exchange OpenID will show up under "my logins". Please make sure that you are already logged into your account when you click the confirmation link; otherwise, you will create a new account that needs to be merged with your old one.

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