Comment 8 for bug 210943

As further information: I've been told one blocker to doing this is that Launchpad really wants to have an email address for the user, and openid does not(?) directly provide one.

Launchpad is said to need an email address because the most common beginning-user interactions are to file a bug or ask a support question. It is common for bugs to need more information from the reporter to be usefully processed; kiko asserts that it is not worth getting reports if the original reporter is uncontactable. (I agree it is much more useful if they are, but some bugs may be worth getting anyhow.)

Also, once the question or bug is answered, email lets us tell the user so, though it's possible they would notice it was changed by some other means, such as an RSS feed or simply polling the page. Some developers might not want to answer a question if they perceive an increased risk the reporter will never see the answer.

Some reporters of this bug would like to avoid giving Launchpad an address. Some don't mind giving an address but want to avoid having yet another web password.

There is a proposal to allow users to enter their email to specify their openid identity (see http://siliconflorist.com/2008/06/20/email-to-id-my-openid-is-an-email-address/).

The options then seem to be
 - allow use of openid but require the user to also provide an email address before they can do anything
 - allow accounts with no email address
 - regularly prompt the user to give an address but don't require it