Why do people forget their passwords?

[Rruchi man]

Recently, i have been coming across more stories of person's that have forgotten their passwords or keys, and because of that, have lost their investments (btc and other coins) in the process.

Let us enlightenment ourselves, What could be some causes of this?
Could it be stress, elaborate passwords or something else (please state what you think is a cause).

From identifying the causes, i believe we will be able to get solutions.

[1714899792]

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[Poker Player]

I don't think it is so common nowadays to lose their seed, although it is inevitable that little by little some of them will continue to be lost. But I think it was more typical years ago, when Bitcoin was just starting and people didn't know if it was going to become a thing yet. Back then people were more careless. Today, however, even if you have only $1k, you try to have the seeds well guarded, not just because of the current value, but because in the future that $1k may be worth $10k or $50k. That wasn't so clear in 2010 for example.

[Clairvoyance]

Let us enlightenment ourselves, What could be some causes of this?

Most of their bitcoins and other altcoins was definitely hold on a cold wallet way back when it was first issued or on it's early stages. It was never their priority since it may be just given or just a whimsical approach on a new mode of payment. However, since the hype and current spotlight on cryptocurrency, most of this holders are trying to remember their own account and their wallets. More often than not, they are unable to recover due to lack of backup for password and unable to trace where did they place those wallet.

Here are some examples:

https://news.bitcoin.com/man-accidentally-threw-away-hard-drive-with-7500-bitcoins-million-landfill/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/130047/i_have_384_bitcoins_in_a_wallet_which_i_lost_the/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/technology/bitcoin-passwords-wallets-fortunes.html


Clear causes:

1. It was never a priority at first.
2. The lack of backup and alternative.
3. Oversight.

[OgNasty]

I don't think there's anything wrong with "forgetting" your password.  I don't even know my bitcointalk password at the moment.  I personally think if you don't know your password, then it would be difficult to use it unsafely.

I would be worried if my memory was the only thing keeping my logins safe.  I've learned over many years that it is best to have a solid means of recovery.  Being reliant on any one thing, memory, piece of paper, electronic file; will likely end up causing you problems.  

So while you ask why people forget their passwords, I wonder why they ever knew them at all...

[semobo]

Human brains can store more data than any computers but it is not possible to retrieve the exact data when we wanted after a long time like reading data on a hard drive. So if you are about to set password for something then use an offline password manager or just store it in a paper then keep it in a safe box.

[NeuroticFish]

From identifying the causes, i believe we will be able to get solutions.

I'll make a list, not only for passwords, instead for losing access to various means of storing the coins.

1. Carelessness, especially from the days the coins worth much less.
2. Overly complicated storing methods.
3. Over-confidence on their capabilities (eg. thinking that they can keep in mind a complicated password for 10s of years).
4. Accidents (from spilling coffee onto the paper wallet to car crash or stroke and brain injury).
5. Storing the wallets on exclusive IT related supports (HDD/USB/whatever) and those getting destroyed or declared obsolete and thrown away.
6. Storing the wallet info in only one place.
7. Lack of understanding crypto, computers, web/services.

The order is.. what came into my mind.
I don't see a proper solution for them. Using/keeping only seed should be basically it, but if one keeps it "in clear", then he won't forget it, but others may understand what it is and steal the coins.

[bitcoinblog]

Recently, i have been coming across more stories of person's that have forgotten their passwords or keys, and because of that, have lost their investments (btc and other coins) in the process.

Let us enlightenment ourselves, What could be some causes of this?
Could it be stress, elaborate passwords or something else (please state what you think is a cause).

From identifying the causes, i believe we will be able to get solutions.

Only those who are giving care to sites instructing " use different passwords for different sites " , are mostly forgetting their passwords. Otherwise majority of users not forgetting.

Yes if someone is using too much bad sites or badly coded sites , for sure their passwords are compromised due to lack of coder skill to hash passwords before storing into database. Once those sites are compromised their passwords too got compromised. On such sites its better to use random passwords and store them in Chrome and take Chrome password backup by Exporting Passwords.

I am usually changing my passwords with new sets every 3-4 months. Making my own 3-4 set of passwords which i memorise first and then started changing them on those sites which have valuable asset. Rest all have same passwords from ages. 

[MarcoS97]

weed.... xD

Sry just be honest, but often people keep smoking Mary and did not sleep a good amount of hrs. In kombination you start to forget things..

[Rruchi man]

I'll make a list, not only for passwords, instead for losing access to various means of storing the coins.

I am usually afraid of making a list with my Various login details because i am scared that someone will somehow run into the list and have a hard access to all my accounts and informations.

[NeuroticFish]

I'll make a list, not only for passwords, instead for losing access to various means of storing the coins.

I am usually afraid of making a list with my Various login details because i am scared that someone will somehow run into the list and have a hard access to all my accounts and informations.

Getting a sentence out of context and misunderstanding it is the way to go 
If you read further you'll see that it's a list of problems, not a list of credentials.

[trigger1975]

Recently, i have been coming across more stories of person's that have forgotten their passwords or keys, and because of that, have lost their investments (btc and other coins) in the process.

Let us enlightenment ourselves, What could be some causes of this?
Could it be stress, elaborate passwords or something else (please state what you think is a cause).

From identifying the causes, i believe we will be able to get solutions.

Well, I started with BTC in 2011 when you could mine 1 BTC a day with a regular mining rig and 1 coin was worth 1 dollar.  It was fun and nothing else.  And if you think about this stuff as fun, you don't really care.  I even did not think about what might happen in 1, 2 or even 10 years now.  I thought just: "well, that password is long enough and I will surely remember it!". Long story short: as it was fun, I didn't care and I've lost a lot of coins to forgotten passwords, scammers, … And in 2011 it was not that common to use password managers or similar, wallet seeds were not yet implemented, …

[CryptocurencyKing]

There are a lot of things that could make one forget one's password and that is basically because of an over consciousness on security. Being consciousness is good but, being over conscious could lead you into trouble of you actually forgetting your password. It starts with you changing password often or having too many passwords you work with. It's a bad habit that must be discouraged. A single misunderstanding or confusion is all it takes to loose it.

Though, forgetting your password is very unlikely to make you loose your coins. A simple forgotten password can create the platform for a password reset. Forgetting your seed phrase or private key is where all the concerns lies. It overrides password as it could be used in importing your wallet and as well create another password. Its the most important and like the saying goes,

Not your keys, not your coins.

[LTU_btc]

Forgetting passwords is very well-known issue for me. I can say that my memory isn't good, I tend to forget things. I struggle to remember things like phone numbers, I remember how much time it took until I started to remember my phone number . Until it, I always had to look at my phone when someone asked for my number.
When it comes to passwords, I'm trying not to use same passwords on different websites. And offcourse, I don't use simple basic passwords, I'm trying to make it more complicated. I have no idea on how many websites I have accounts, but I think that number is quite big. And different passwords everywhere, well, that's a lot of passwords. It's not easy to remember. Especially when I login to certain website twice a year or even more rarely. I think it's normal thing to forget it. And then I don't even try to remember it, I simply click "forgot password".
There is more factors why people forget passwords. Lack of sleep, stress don't help. Also, we receive so much information every day. Sometimes our brain remember completely useless things, but forget more important ones.

[b_man_4]

 intentional brain damage,  we where sold artificial eggs that cause brain damage .

[20kevin20]

To the early birds, it might be just that they simply never saw Bitcoin going where it is today - or the lack of information regarding cold storage and wallet safety. Most early Bitcoiners played with the currency just for fun. I've lost my passwords to some of my older accounts as well. To some of them it was because I did not care, to others it was because I simply forgot about their existence and others were just too complex for me to remember.

If people care, they spend their time securing their funds. But too many people trust their devices way more than they should.

[Renampun]

There are many reasons why someone forgets or loses a password...
among others, human error = is due to negligence, or accidentally dumped by someone closest to, and natural disasters = it could be due to fire or other things related to nature.

[iTradeChips]

In my opinion, the only reason why people forget their passwords would only sum up with one word and that is "value". If you value your accounts and you know the significance of having that account then there is no reason for you to forget the password. That is a common mistake of people who lived with passwords and they tend to remember their email password but forget some like exchange passwords and other crypto related stuff.

[sportclub2010]

Recently, i have been coming across more stories of person's that have forgotten their passwords or keys, and because of that, have lost their investments (btc and other coins) in the process.

The fact is that you cannot use one password for all sites. And many, many passwords are no longer easy to remember. Therefore, we write them down somewhere, and then we forget where we wrote them down. In my opinion, this is the main problem.

[martina14]

Loss or forgetting their passwords is one of the important thing that need to secure it properly. Especially,  if you store your crypto in a cold wallet like electrum, or you are using any of the exchange whether decentralised or centralised were to this issue you can still recover them for sure but in a cold wallet that would be a big problem, because of the negligent behaviour we have were We shouldn't have this anyway.

[yemight600]

Let us enlightenment ourselves, What could be some causes of this?
Could it be stress, elaborate passwords or something else (please state what you think is a cause).

The only person I've seen in recent times that happens to lost his private key is actually a friend.  I helped him bought few TRY about a year and half ago only for him to call me few weeks ago asking for how he can recover his wallet without private key.  I think the major reason people usually forget their keys out of negligence is usually because the asset is small in value and maybe some other reasons too