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    I wish people would stop enforcing silly constraints on passwords. It's irritating, and makes them less secure. Commented May 2, 2011 at 16:28
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    @Oli If you do not enforce restrictions like this then most users tend to create very simple passwords that are very easy to break :). Commented May 2, 2011 at 16:29
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    @Oli I generally agree, but I do accept the 8 character minimum as a valid constraint. The whole upper/lower/number/special/firstbornchild restrictions are kind of over the top. Commented May 2, 2011 at 16:29
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    @desi: But by enforcing this, you end up with people creating passwords that they can't memorise, so they end up writing them down somewhere. Commented May 2, 2011 at 16:30
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    @Oli: Social engineering always is a problem. In the case of no constraints on the password, you can put relevant names etc. on the top of your list of passwords to check, in the other case, you at least need to have physical access to that persons desk, purse etc. to find the piece of paper with the password. All in all, passwords with reasonable constraints - e.g. several character classes - are more secure than those without the constraints. I agree, that they also are not perfect, but really, what is? Commented May 2, 2011 at 16:40