Why isn’t web.config working as a credential source for ASP.NET?

Now many people will argue that it is a stupid idea to store clear text credentials in web.config, and in some respects they are right. Obviously the credentials for the website is as clear as day, BUT .config files are not served by ASP.NET, so there are some precautions in place. But if you are writing a test app for the Membership provider and you really can’t be bothered with setting up a SQL Local Data Source and really just want to get your proof of concept out of the way, it really is brilliant. However, although you normally set up Membership once per project, I became a little bit r... [More]