[thewitt]

Originally posted by dxb
There are many reasons for me

1. I have alot of users that don't use a real email address and when they loose their passwords I keep emailing them and the process takes alot of emailing and you can imagine how many times I have to deal with this problem if you have a board with a large number of users

This is a problem. I cannot imagine why you do this, but if you do you are right - it's a problem. I would never consider allowing registered users without a real email account. Perhaps someone else who allows this will comment.

2. is to identify the trouble makers from their passwords ... alot of users keep using the same password or the same combination which makes them identifiable ....

This doesn't change. The text encrypts to the same thing - you just can't read it as words. You should still be able to pull out duplicate password strings as MD5 passwords.

3. alot of times when ever I do hacks ... I have to login using some of my moderators login names to check for troubles ... and I have over 50 moderator and normally I don't have the time to ask them for the password and wait for the answer .... a simple example is the moderator log hack ... I had one moderator name that was not being logged ... after using his name and testing I discovered it was because he used a custom user title

You see, this is one of the key issues with plain text passwords. You should never be able to log in as me on your forum without my express knowledge and permission. If I want you to log in as me, I'll tell you my password.

I don't say that I cant get away without having this function but without it will make my life alot harder

but I should have the option to have it or not to have it ... exactly the way it was with the older versions

This was not an option with the other version. Viewing the passwords was, but encrypting them was not. You now have a more secure board, and we have a more secure product. I am more comfortable using your board because I know that my password is stored in a safe manner. Life is good.

-t