WCG had to integrate a number of password systems to make all these systems work together.

Perhaps pick a longer password, that doesn't use that character? Sorry for the inconvenience.

Really... far as i know WCG is the only one who uses https for safe communication. Besides it's a hoax to think that the special characters give better security..... who would want to use e.g. brute force to crack the BOINC account passwords and what if, could one do with it?

As for refusing to change your password to comply with WCG rules (IBM for your information who is the approver for all to get onto their network servers).... what with the marvel of BAM stops u to change the other X at the push of a button?..... silly me, that is not possible to do

it isn't that much of a hoax... it does cause a need for slightly more complex crack algorithms... nothing really hard to do... but it does cut down on the number of cracking apps that might get in
you are right though... it's not like this is critical info :)
it is a bit of an annoyance to have to change the other passwords just so bam will work with wcm... and i'm new to bam... just learning how it works
see i'm used to managing all my projects and systems by hand... another reason i didn't want to have to change the password... i know the one i'm using... i allways have to look up what i used for wcm
IBM has had a few good ideas :) but thay have done as many dumb things as most tech type companies (like sony backing the betamax way back when)
i do network/server admin and security and programming/web dev... i understand the need for complex, long passwords that change regularly, contain no dictionary words, containing characters in {a-z, A-Z, 0-9} and `~!@#$%^&*()-_=+\|[{]};:'",<.>/?
there are good reasons for it (like greater character set takes longer to bruteforce)
I didn't realize that wcm were using an IBM system (i'm assuming some flavor of *nix... which i have never had give me a restriction like that) that caused this restriction... i thought it was just a matter of poorly designed authentication software... but i guess since it's IBM it's gotta be good

Ooops, you have it backwards....

WCG (not wcm!) is run by IBM - it's an IBM initiative, with IBM staff. However, the software they use comes from many places. The first grid system they started out with is the United Devices system (same as is used at grid.org). This, to be blunt, has a few issues. This password restriction would be one of them. IBM have worked some minor miracles in making the easy to use UD software play nice with the powerful and open source BOINC. This is the back end systems I'm talking about. The agent software is just the tip of the iceberg.

So, yes, many of us really hate the bugs and proprietary nature of United Devices. However, until recently it was the easiest option for clueless users to install and run. Plus it has pretty graphics.

Anyway, now we know one of the characters in your password, it is less secure than ever before. Change it! ;-)