Request For Proposal
This recent post by @slobberchops inspired me to bring the subject up again:
https://peakd.com/hive-167922/@slobberchops/the-frustrations-of-on-boarding#@joshman/re-slobberchops-qpi6u1
HIVE needs an optional SSO service for new users that allows them to:
A. Use all hive functionality with a single username/password
B. Ability to extract & change owner keys when user gets more advanced
C. A password reset/recovery mechanism
D. Necessary APIs for DApp integration.
E. 2FA
Before you come back at me with 'not your keys, not your coins', centralization, and trust arguments, realize that novice and unsophisticated users (particularly ones with low stake) give zero shits about that stuff. We want to make it very simple for novice users, and dare I say idiot proof (password recovery, etc.). When they become advanced users and accumulate some hive, we can give them a path to manage their own keys and satisfy the cypherpunks in the room.
I'm hoping to see proposals in the DHF for something like this to vote on, as I feel the complexity and risk of key management has been a serious deterrent to novice users.
PS. In addition, there are other scenarios as well such as a user could maintain a hot account using this sign in service, and also maintain cold wallets that delegate to themselves and acheive the best of both worlds.
Absolutely agree the user experience shall be super simple for all those who are not too much into technology. And most of the people out there belong to that category. Keychain already makes it easier, but to set it up is not. Hivesigner is not user friendly imho. A password reset function is indeed something we also need. I suspect this shall be a 2nd layer service since the blockchain shall stay protected for all users. I think the biggest problem we have is that most people active in the HIVE ecosystem are too technical and have too little experience with building services for the mass. And those with the experiences to create services for the mass, are not technical enough to create a service themselves, or don't have the funds to finance one. Proposal system is nice, but its darn hard to get a proposal financed.
The frustrations of onboarding are real. Some tend to forget how confusing Hive is.
The lack of empathy there is concerning.
The account recovery mechanism seems largely obscure and full of difficulties. I haven't found solid, reliable documentation on it. So having robust and easy-to-use account recovery mechanisms seems like a hugely needed improvement. The vast majority of people will lose their keys, we can count on that.
I created a service to make account recovery more simple and automated.
You can read more about it in this post.
The existing account recovery is more of a last resort for advanced users sort of thing. Resetting of owner keys has always been esoteric to do in a trustless way.
I would support such a proposal, we have the devs (mostly witnesses) who wants to do it?
Most existing projects and proposals are not grassroots, hoping we can change that trend with an RFP.