Comment 12 for bug 210943

A response to Martin Pool's quote, because I want to make sure that this is clear: (Well, for as far as I understand OpenID that is...)
"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."

OpenID is designed mainly for using a single *identity* for login purposes. The login is handled by the OpenID server and the server then confirms to (in this case) launchpad that the user has granted launchpad (the consumer) access.

OpenID is not meant to be a complete database of user information. If the Launchpad service wants additional information, it is free to just ask the user for this information. The only difference is that the OpenID identity is the "unique identifier" for the user instead of a site-specific username.

I would be perfectly okay with having to provide an email address for communication purposes after I have logged in for the first time with my OpenID account.

A side note:
OpenID has a mechanism that supports storing multiple 'personalities' in the OpenID account (on the server). A user of OpenID can specify which personality can be sent to the server upon successful login. And if the personality is populated with an email address, then Launchpad should be able to receive this information.
And if I remember correctly, Launchpad could just check this information during the first login and request the user to send a more detailed personality if so required. (Or ofcourse just ask for the additional information.)