Re: Index on email or ID?

[Brent Baisley <brent@landover.com>]

Always, always, always use a value that has no other significance other 
than being a unique ID. Email addresses change and so do passwords, so 
those are poor choices for linking data. They are fine and good choices 
for login, but that's about the only thing they should be used for.

I've seen systems where the social security number was used as the 
unique ID. Sure it won't change, but it's also private information. Then 
there is the problem of human error on data entry.


On Wednesday, December 4, 2002, at 09:23 AM, Jim wrote:

> My website requires subscribed users to login with their email and 
> password,
> the email is guaranteed to be unique, so this is one key, the other is 
> the
> AUTO_INCREMENT ID assigned at registration time.
--
Brent Baisley
Systems Architect
Landover Associates, Inc.
Search & Advisory Services for Advanced Technology Environments
p: 212.759.6400/800.759.0577


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