OpenID Has Been Disabled For Now

Due to some problems with the OpenID plugin and site loads, we’ve disabled OpenID. Hopefully once the plugin reaches a level where it isn’t being loaded constantly and bogging things down, we’ll re-enable it. Until then, anyone who used OpenID to create an account will have to login here by requesting a password reset using their userid.

If you’re like me, you probably have a ton of userid’s and passwords for various websites you visit. It seems like every blog wants you to creat an account to get comments posted reliably (thanks spammers!), so a system has been developed called ‘OpenID‘ that allows websites to recognize you with a single userid, in the form of a URL. Once you tell an OpenID enabled website about your ID, it will automatically log you in anytime you are logged into your OpenID account. No more entering passwords everytime you want to comment on a blog or use a website’s advanced services.

The great news is, many web services provide OpenID authentication services, so you probably already have an OpenID, and don’t even know it. If you have an account with AOL, Blogger, Livejournal, Technorati, Verisign, WordPress.com, Bloglines, or Clickpass, you already have an OpenID!

So how can you use OpenID here at On The Pitch? It’s easy.

If you already have an On The Pitch account – you can link your OpenID to your account. Just login to On The Pitch to get to your dashboard. Click on your userid in the upper right corner where it says ‘Howdy!’ You’ll see a link called ‘Your Identity URLs’. Click it and add your OpenID URL. Follow the directions, login to your OpenID account if you need to, and tell your OpenID provider you want On The Pitch to be able to authenticate against your OpenID (I recommend clicking ‘Grant Always’ if asked for how long). Now when you are logged into your OpenID, you’ll automatically be signed into your OTP account as well when you visit here.

If you don’t have an On The Pitch account – you can create one that will be automatically linked to your OpenID. Go to the login screen for On The Pitch. Click the OpenID field and a selection window will popup. Click on the service you have an account with, and enter your userid in the field at the bottom. This will generate the proper ‘OpenID URL’ for you. Click Login and you will be taken to your OpenID provider’s website to login to your account as normal. We get NO information about you except your name (and sometimes not even that!). Once you login and grant OTP permission to authenticate you using your OpenID, you’ll be directed to the Dashboard of your new On The Pitch account. Now OpenID userids are long and ugly – you’ll see it up next to Howdy in the upper right hand corner. Click it, and update your Profile with a First Name, Last Name, Nickname, and email address – then click ‘Update Profile’. Now scroll down to ‘Display Name Publicly As’ chooser and select how you want your name displayed on our site. Click Update Profile again. Now you will have an On The Pitch account that you’ll be automatically logged into when you are logged into your OpenID account.

My main motivation in doing this is to try and get more people familiar and comforable with the OpenID concept so you can reduce the number of logins you have for various websites. If you have any trouble, let me know!