Open ID - What happens when you decide you don't like your existing provider?

Question

So I'm not quite convinced about OpenID yet, and here is why:

I already have an OpenID because I have a Blogger account. But I discovered that Blogger seems to be a poor provider when I tried to identify myself on the altdotnet page and recieved the following message:

You must use an OpenID persona that specifies a valid email address.

Lets forget the details of this little error and assume that I want to change to a different provider. So I sign up with a different provider and get a new, different OpenID - how would I switch my existing StackOverflow account to be associated with my new OpenID?

I understand this would be easy if I had my own domain set up to delegate to a provider, because I could just change the delegation. Assume I do not have my own domain.

Answer 1

Ideally Stack Overflow would allow you to change your OpenID.

OTOH, ideally you would have set up OpenID delegation on your own site, and used that to identify yourself.

With delegation, you would need only change which service you delegate to. You'd still be identified by your own URL that you control. But that doesn't help now unless Stack Overflow lets you change it. Most sites tie OpenIDs to real accounts, and would let you switch or at least add additional OpenIDs. Doesn't seem like you could map OpenIDs to accounts 1:1 unless the result of access is totally trivial; otherwise you're in a situation like this where you lose your existing questions, answers, and reputation for switching IDs.

Answer 2

So the OpenID protocol doesn't actually offer a solution for this situation? I would have to rely on individual sites to offer some sort of migration function? That's quite unfortunate. The whole design of OpenID seems focused on a "all your eggs in one basket" approach, i.e. you should try to use your OpenID everywhere you can. This would be fine if all providers are identical, but they are not.

Imagine the worse case, where you pick a provider that ends up closing down. Wouldn't you potentially lose your accounts on many sites?

Answer 3

This is a problem for me because I changed my email in the way of the new fad of firstName.lastName@gmail.com. After much scouring of this Web site, I am confirming that those of you in my situation are out of luck until further notice because of the issue described in the question.

Either hold on to that old ID or give up your points.