I wanted to like, or at least be intrigued by the BBC’s new community activism site, iCan. I think this the right sort of idea, and seeing the BBC take seriously its mandate to be a public communication medium is heart warming.

However the site commits one of my cardinal usability sins…it asks for a 7 character password! If your my bank fine, otherwise get off your high horse, and let me make my own security evaluations. I’ve got a suite of 6 character passwords I rotate through, and none of them work with the iCan site. I could make up a new password just for that site, but then the chances of me remembering it would be nil. And they want at least 6 characters for the hint! What the hell do they care how long my hint is?!?!