Disabling pre-login password reset

[EHP]

I recently recieved a "Steam account - Forgotten password" email from steam support, that i did not request. I have recieved similar emails from other sites where i have accounts using this email. So i fear that someone might have gained access to my email and is planning to use it to steal my accounts. I am very confident that i will never forget my steam password and i would never share it with anyone or write it down where someone might see it. I am far more concerned with the possibility of someone reading my emails and resetting my password without my knowledge.
So i would like to request the option to disable pre-login password resets, so i can only change my password after logging in.

[EHP]

Problem is, I often log in to my email on other peoples/public machines. While i am far more carefull with my steam account since i have spend money on it. So my steam account is far more secure than my email and i like it that way. Except that my steam security is dependent on my email security.
I now have a seperate email for steam only, but this is quite bothersome. I wish i could make steam completely undependent on my email.

[EHP]

...while still recieving emails from steam on my primary email account.

[Satoru]

"generally" waht this means is that your steam usernam is very similar to someone else. So a user will think 'hey my username EPH needs a password rset' and they make it for your username "EHP". They subsequently keep doing it because "Hey why deosn't my email come through? Steam sux0rz!!!11!!" while they keep inputting the WRONG username

[EHP]

Wow, i didn't even think of that. That is a good explanation.
But the whole point is that i don't really care if anyone is reading my email. I just don't want my email security to have any effect on my steam security.

[EHP]

Muppet among Puppets님이 먼저 게시:

email HAS to be save. Because, email can be used to gain access to ALL associated accounts!

I know...
Changing that, is the whole point of this thread. Why MUST email give access to you account? If i am certain, that i will never forget my login. Shoudn't i have the option, to disable unnecessary risk factors. Like dependence on email security.
This should be optional of course.

[Scutterman]

EHP님이 먼저 게시:

Muppet among Puppets님이 먼저 게시:

email HAS to be save. Because, email can be used to gain access to ALL associated accounts!

I know...
Changing that, is the whole point of this thread. Why MUST email give access to you account? If i am certain, that i will never forget my login. Shoudn't i have the option, to disable unnecessary risk factors. Like dependence on email security.
This should be optional of course.

Anyone who works, or has ever worked, tech support will tell you that one of the biggest problems they face is from people who are sure they will never forget their password, and then they do. Now, I'm not saying that will ever happen to you, but would happen to a very high percentage of people who enable the feature you're suggesting.

Just use a strong password on your email account, don't select "remember me" on public computers, and always make sure to log out and close the browser when you're done. It's not much of a hassle, and it has the benefit of protecting your other accounts as well as your Steam account.

[EHP]

Then there should be a big fat warning, when you try to enable the feature. Saying that you will loose your account, if you forget your password. And that it cannot be reclaimed under any circumstances, other than remembering the password. No refunds, no exceptions.

[Scutterman]

You can hire someone to run through a user's house naked saying "This is not advised" and they'll still ignore it.

[EHP]

I think it would scare off most people, and make the rest easy to deal with.
I also find your tech supporter quotes hard to believe. As i have never heard of a system that provided the option i am requesting. I think the tech supporter overload problem must have happened in systems that provided no automatic password recovery at all.

[Scutterman]

EHP님이 먼저 게시:

I think it would scare off most people, and make the rest easy to deal with.
I also find your tech supporter quotes hard to believe. As i have never heard of a system that provided the option i am requesting. I think the tech supporter overload problem must have happened in systems that provided no automatic password recovery at all.

I've worked tech support when I was doing web development. I've had to deal with users who have created a new email address and never bothered adding their new address to the system because they believed that they would never forget their password. They have then forgotten both their old email's password, and the system's password. Believe it, it happens. Users are idiots.

(I'm not saying that all users are idiots, obviously, just the ones that are difficult enough to remember)

[EHP]

Scutterman님이 먼저 게시:

because they believed that they would never forget their password.

Sounds more like they just forgot to update their info. The key difference is that you have to make a deliberate choice to activate the feature.

[Scutterman]

EHP님이 먼저 게시:

Scutterman님이 먼저 게시:

because they believed that they would never forget their password.

Sounds more like they just forgot to update their info. The key difference is that you have to make a deliberate choice to activate the feature.

Believe what you want. I'm just trying to tell you what I've experienced, and what the Steam devs have probably experienced.

[Silicon Vampire]

So you want complete control of the account from only within the account?

If that's what I'm reading: Really, really bad idea.

If you can't see the inherent problems with that, nobody will be able to understand it for you.

[EHP]

Scutterman님이 먼저 게시:

Believe what you want. I'm just trying to tell you what I've experienced, and what the Steam devs have probably experienced.

I wasn't calling you a liar, if that's what it sounded like. No offence was intendet. Just trying to explain my reasoning for, why this feature might work better than what you have experienced before.

Silicon Vampire님이 먼저 게시:

So you want complete control of the account from only within the account?

If that's what I'm reading: Really, really bad idea.

If you can't see the inherent problems with that, nobody will be able to understand it for you.

Wow, you almost know how to have a discussion, just gotta work a bit on that arrogance. So my idea is bad, because you think so, and you can't tell my why. Thats a very convincing argument. I can't believe i even bothered making this thread, when the answer is so obvious.

But seriously, please enlighten me. I really can't think of any problems, other than the risk of people loosing their accounts. And as i said before, steam should make it very clear that they take no responsibility, if you disable the lost-password-retrieval safety feature.

[EHP]

There IS a clear benefit. That you steam account security will no longer be limited by you email security. What is wrong with making people responsible for their own actions? Just make the feature only available to people 21 years or older.