Forced to Fastmail login

Forced to Fastmail login

Just tried to login at https://www.operamail.com/ and then tried http://www.operamail.com/.

Being automatically redirected to https://www.fastmail.fm/?domain=operamail.com BEFORE I login.

This is a problem in that I have a bunch of accounts (some paid / some free) all with Wand auto logins.

I turned off automatic redirection and get a "302 Found nginx/1.0.15" error.

I have opened a ticket @ Fastmail support... But given that this "New and Improved" (how I fear those words) is their idea of wonderful I have my doubts.

So, other than laboriously recreating my wand logins, any ideas?

Anybody have an idea why https://www.fastmail.fm/?domain=operamail.com is an improvement over https://www.operamail.com/ ?

Thanks for any help.

Probably due to <http://blog.fastmail.fm/2012/06/06/changes-to-webmail-login/>. Also, see <http://blog.fastmail.fm/2012/05/21/enforcing-ssltls-encryption-of-all-connections/> for mail clients.

Here is the reply I got from Fastmail:

Admin : Yassar Ali
Hi,

our SSL security certificate is for www.fastmail.fm (SSL certificates cost money, and it would be expensive to buy separate certificates for every domain we own). Hence we redirect all urls to https://www.fastmail.fm so that users are enforced to login securely:

http://blog.fastmail.fm/2012/06/06/changes-to-webmail-login/

If you wish to have automatic logins for each of your accounts, you can do so by creating bookmarks to quick logins. Go to the "Options->Alternateive Logins" screen and use the "Quick Logins" button.

Regards.

My thoughts:

RE: "(SSL certificates cost money, and it would be expensive to buy separate certificates for every domain we own)"

It looks like the one for operamail.com would run $156 USD per year using digicert.com, the issuer their using. Somewhat less for some other issuers, godaddy seems to be $70-$100. I suppose if they have enough domains, the cost / benefit ratio of inconveniencing customers might work out. Not a good sign customer service wise.

RE: "Options->Alternateive Logins" screen and use the "Quick Logins"

The problem I have with this is the fact that it is not session password protected. Anyone who gets the bookmark just gets in (if I understand correctly). No encryption or such. Lousy replacement for Wand or such. AND I would still have to deal with each account, a real pain.

What I REALLY wish they had done was send out a warning while the SSL for operamail.com was still live (as it has been for quite awhile). Then I could have just gone down the list using auto login and dealt with it (moved stuff or at least noted the "official" numbers added name for each account). Springing this kind of surprise is (IMHO) very unprofessional.

So, after having used (and paid for on and off for various accounts) Operamail since about 1999. Through several providers good and bad. I hung with it. Now, thanks to this SNAFU I probably won't.

I didn't like when Opera bought Fastmail, partially because companies tend to mess up when they drift from their core business, and partially because when I tried Fastmail (several times) over the years I never liked it.

I've used Opera since 1997, (yes, I BOUGHT it with actual money) but some of the stuff they've been doing lately makes me nervous. I hope they don't screw up, I really don't want to have to use something else.

What if you just always goto <https://www.fastmail.fm/>? Enter your email address as the username and enter the password (and select long term if you want) and submit. Do that for each one of your accounts and save the login to the wand. opermail is fastmail anyway.

(I don't have an @operamail.com account anymore to test with Opera deleted mine on me when they switched to fastmail)

Originally posted by burnout426:

What if you just always goto <https://www.fastmail.fm/>? Enter your email address as the username and enter the password (and select long term if you want) and submit. Do that for each one of your accounts and save the login to the wand. opermail is fastmail anyway.

(I don't have an @operamail.com account anymore to test with Opera deleted mine on me when they switched to fastmail)

As far as I can tell that will work. Though I might have to use the "official" user id they created for each Operamail username: I.e. example@operamail.com became example_02902@operamail.com or some such. I'll check.

The main problem with this (and most other solutions) is that over the decades I kept adding Operamail accounts for this and that. Many many accounts. And though I was good and put them in my password software, and they are all there, it is not the most automated of systems. (Slightly embarrassed, when I checked just now: My password software has a 1999 copyright.) It is strictly copy / paste. Anyhow, I just kept moving the wand passwords from Opera to Opera, computer to computer. So, I am going to be copying and pasting my little fingers to the bone for any manual work around. I actually considered asking them if I could just buy them the SSL for Operamail instead of my hourly wage going into this.

Perhaps should bight the bullet, use this as an excuse, and transfer all my account info to a modern (form / page filling) password system. Wand has been fine, but I can't get the **#$$#!! passwords out of it. And neither it nor my password software can do any kind of bulk management of them. If I have to do stuff manually thanks to Fastmail, I might as well maximize my benefit.

Thanks for the reply.

Originally posted by frost-giant:

Originally posted by burnout426:

What if you just always goto <https://www.fastmail.fm/>? Enter your email address as the username and enter the password (and select long term if you want) and submit. Do that for each one of your accounts and save the login to the wand. opermail is fastmail anyway.

(I don't have an @operamail.com account anymore to test with Opera deleted mine on me when they switched to fastmail)

As far as I can tell that will work. Though I might have to use the "official" user id they created for each Operamail username: I.e. example@operamail.com became example_02902@operamail.com or some such. I'll check.

I tried it AND one does not have to use the "extra digits" version. So I can sign in with example@operamail.com at the fastmail site.

So now I just have to repeat umpty-zillion times for all my accounts and I'd be back at the same level of usability I had a couple weeks ago. Until they change something else anyway.

I think I may still go for a form filling password thing rather than use Opera's Wand... If folks (especially those employed by Opera) are going to rape "improve" websites so that I can't use them with Opera Wand... I think having a more editable / maneuverable password system is a good idea. Then if they decide to make the site totally hostile to Opera I can always migrate...

Ok, I think I finally managed to locate and manually type in all my accounts and passwords... Yes, it has been 4 months. I got busy, and I had done (almost) all the significant ones. There was one biggie that I had not tracked down until now.

On the positive side, I don't think they (fastmail) deleted any of the mail in any of the accounts I can sign in on...

On the negative, I have 6 accounts that I can't sign in on. None are that important (newsletters, coupons and such). So I'll not be wasting time.

And, of course, the most annoying thing about this is that all this was to save fastmail the price of an SSL certificate for one domain... Well under a $100 a year.

One reason I don't trust the "cloud". Somebody (from a low level tech to a CEO) decides to "new-and-improve" something and BLAM!

At least with my own computer I can fend off some of the upgrades that are really bugs.

Ce le vie (yea I mispelled it)