Occasionally, there are questions where a poster would like to provide login information to a third-party site in order to better explain their problem.
Sample questions include:
Should login information be allowed in questions or answers? Does it matter if it is a throw-away account? Does it matter if it is not tied to real money?
Ethical and legal issues aside, all relevant text and information should be included in the post whenever possible. This site is supposed to be the canonical source of questions and answers for personal finance. As such, questions and answers should be self-contained as much as possible. External references and links (apart from attribution) should be discouraged.
If a question requires a login to a specific (even demo) account, it is "too localized" by definition. It's bad enough that people link to content which may or may not be there in the years to come, but I can't imagine that a demo account and its data will be preserved for those who come after.
All login information should be removed from questions. Frequently (if not always), it is against the terms of use for the website linked to. For example, the two questions listed above are from saxobank.com and their terms of use state: "You are responsible for protecting and securing your User Name and password from unauthorized use and disclosure."
Due to our inability to monitor the terms of use for every website linked to, Money.stackexchange.com should not allow the posting of login information to questions.
Login information for demonstration accounts should be permitted in questions.
It's helpful:
% If you're asking questions about a site, letting people visit the site is more effective than any number of words and screenshots.
It's polite:
% When asking a question, you want to do as much for potential answerers as possible. Forcing them to create an account (often requires giving out an email address, which some people dislike) and then configure the account properly (not trivial in many cases) is a lot more work for them than giving them to access to an existing properly-configured account.
It's effective:
% The more work a question requires, the fewer answers it will receive. Filling out a form, waiting for email confirmation, and configuring an account just to start on the problem is a lot of work, and certainly discourages people from casually browsing to see if they can help.
It usually doesn't violate TOS:
% Many websites ask you to insure your account isn't accessed by "unauthorized parties" or that "you are responsible for access to your account". However, posting account information on stackexchange sites means that you are authorizing stackexchange readers to access your account and are accepting responsibility for their access to your account.
It's legal:
% Generally, I can transfer any rights I have under a site's TOS to others. Some sites' TOS forbid transferring access, but these are generally sites that provide access to things of value such as pictures, movies, songs, etc.
It's on-label use:
% Demonstration accounts often exist to help users understand how a site works. Anything that helps the user understand how a site works (or whether to sign up for a real account), including having stackexchange users visit the site and offer their opinions, is a legitimate use of a demonstration account.
It's ethical:
% Since any stackexchange user could get a demonstration account anyway, the site is in no way harmed if someone uses an existing demonstration account. Providing access to an existing account is simply a convenience and a shortcut, not a method of providing illegitimate access.
Of course, the above doesn't apply to all sites. For example, a site that provides demonstration accounts only to people meeting a certain criteria may not want other people accessing the site.
However, the notes above apply to many sites, and a blanket ban would be overkill and do more harm than good.
