I recently read an excellent posting on why my browser throws a fit and refuses to go on when it encounters an expired security certificate. I really can't quarrel with any of the ideas in that post, but I do think I can suggest some reasons why the question comes up.
One is that the disruption exceeds the perceived severity of the problem. An expired certificate doesn't mean that the certificate is compromised or that my traffic is being read by Bad Guys. It means that the probability of these eventualities, which was never zero and has been rising steadily since the certificate was issued, has now exceeded someone else's threshold of discomfort and, as a result, my task has been interrupted. My complaint is that I must stop what I am doing to deal with something out of my control which may be, but probably is not yet, a problem. Can't I please have a button that means, "I'll take the risk -- let me finish my work now and fix this maybe-problem afterward"? Everyone evaluates risks differently.
Another may be the constant irritation that comes from everything in the world being designed for the Least Comprehending User. There are good reasons for this design choice, but there are also good reasons for some of us to be annoyed by it. This is an emotional argument rather than a logical one, but it is significant nevertheless. Again, why may not I decide?
The proposed button is likely a bad idea, but we have good reasons for wishing it wasn't, is what I'm trying to say here. That's why the question won't go away.
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