While I understand the purpose of security questions, how they’re useful as a small hurdle to someone stealing your whatever, I’m not really a fan. Mostly, I feel that the questions are too generic, like if I can remember the answer (what was your high school mascot), it isn’t hard for someone else to find out. But I ran into a different problem on one site recently while trying to reset my password.

Apparently, when I originally set the security questions, some four or five years ago, I was allowed to write my own questions and supply the answers. Seems like this would solve that generic problem, but it turns out I was not thinking all that straight when I chose my security questions.

Where have all the cowboys gone?
How many licks does it take?

I was trying to be clever I suppose, but clever isn’t always the best path. Because I can’t remember the answers–as I chose them–to these questions. I don’t even really know that cowboys song. I think it just popped in my head, and I had an answer at the ready. So, I plugged that in. That answer escapes me now though.

And how many licks does it take? Three, obviously. But I guess I was trying to be clever with my answer there too. Maybe it’s 42. Maybe all my answers were 42. That would at least make some sense.

I’m often trying to be clever when I should be aiming for straightforward or sincere. Sometimes, obfuscation is just a fancy word for confusion.