Why is it that Adobe feels it must tell me what an acceptable password is?

[Guest]

To me, it seems intuitively obvious that the most secure passwords in practice will be the ones that people can remember and don't have to write down.  Unless Adobe hands out its crypted passwords file in mass, it's not susceptible to brute force attack. 

[John T Smith]

Are you having a REFUSAL to accept your chosen password, or a REMINDER that you need a better password?

Either way, every site that I visit that requires a password will have "some kind of" standard for that site

Some sites require a minimum number of characters and/or the use of special characters

[John Waller]

Every online site where I have login access enforces minimum standards for password strength.