So OpenID only provides authentication in it's simplest form, that is,
it validates a password... that's it, finito, end of story, EOL. The
novalug site is built on Drupal, which requires a username and email
address as well as a password for an account. So the process for
first time logins is as follows.

1. Click the OpenID link in the login block.
2. Enter your OpenID login string (example: myname@yahoo.com [another
example: myname.wordpress.com])
3. You'll be redirected to that OpenID providers page to enter your password.
4. The OpenID provider redirects you back to novalug.com, which throws
errors because it doesn't have an email address from your OpenID
provider and the OpenID provider(in the case of Yahoo) has
fragments(data elements) in the identifier URL, which Drupal tries to
assume is the username, but the fragments are deliniated by special
characters not allowed in the username registration process of
Drupal... so it errs partially.
5. The Drupal error dumps you halfway into the user registration
process which requires you to fill out the username, valid email
address and pass the Mollom captcha (word/picture identification).
6. You then have to verify your email address, and your account will
be fully registered.

After all that, all logins proceed thusly:

1. Click the OpenID link in the login block.
2. Enter your OpenID login string (example: myname@yahoo.com [another
example: myname.wordpress.com])
3. You'll be redirected to that OpenID providers page to enter your password.
4. You will be logged into novalug.com

I can say now that I understand why OpenID has not taken off like it
should have...

Anyway, we'll support it until there is a good reason to drop it.

Cheers,
John W