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0 pointsetskinner4y ago0 comments

Seems like the reason for this is that a lot of places don't accept them as special characters. The exclamation mark (!) and hash (#) are almost guaranteed to be on the special character list, so people likely choose them out of habit.

0 comments

ryandrake4y ago

I've always hated the term "special characters." If you are a non-technical user, it leaves a lot to the imagination.

1. What characters count as special? Does "special" mean non-alphanumeric? If so, just say that, don't say "special".

2. Among those, which ones will be accepted by your password system? Is \ acceptable? Will ™ be accepted? What about emoji (which evidently HN comment input doesn't seem to accept)?

Most password entry prompts do not answer either of these questions, so you have to either guess or just use ! or # and move on with your life.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsetskinner4y ago0 comments

0 comments

ryandrake4y ago

I've always hated the term "special characters." If you are a non-technical user, it leaves a lot to the imagination.

1. What characters count as special? Does "special" mean non-alphanumeric? If so, just say that, don't say "special".

2. Among those, which ones will be accepted by your password system? Is \ acceptable? Will ™ be accepted? What about emoji (which evidently HN comment input doesn't seem to accept)?

Most password entry prompts do not answer either of these questions, so you have to either guess or just use ! or # and move on with your life.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse