I think the core of the problem might be just a simple statement of what’s going on here. The object is to associate a Ma.gnolia account with an OpenID. And we wanted to do that in a way that worked regardless of whether you are joining as a new Ma.gnolia member (in which case you can join AND make the association in the same process), or an existing member who wants to tie their Ma.gnolia account to their OpenID.

So the OpenID on its own doesn’t get you a Ma.gnolia account, but we try to make the two sides of this work together as well as possible. I think you’ve put your finger on something, where we should make 2 different pages to serve that last step of tying the Ma.gnolia and OpenID accounts together, so that the interface shows something that is only what the specific person needs at that time.

We don’t just want to support OpenID - we want to bring it to new people in a clean and enjoyable way. Anything more you can suggest to get us there would be helpful, and if you like you can contact me directly at todd [at] ma.gnolia.com.

It immediately demanded to know my nickname and my email. How rude! I was tempted to stop right there, but went on out of curiosity.

Instead of signing in (as the button promised), I was presented with a registration form. Guess what, nickname and email once again…

I think the ma.gnolia guy(s) should make up his/their mind(s). Either it’s a “Sign in” or a “Join us”. If it’s “Sign in”, ask for (don’t demand!) nickname and email. Once both supplied and available, register seamlessly.

So that makes 2 so far…