Wired: why "registration required" sites suck

talk about the current trend from news providers

[amznVibe]

Here's a good study of how to lose visitors if you annoy them:

[wired.com...]

Increasingly, Web publishers, and in particular newspaper sites, are demanding that readers give up some of their personal information -- like e-mail addresses, gender and salaries -- in exchange for free access to their articles. The publishers say they need this information to make money from advertising. But anecdotal evidence and online chatter suggest readers are annoyed with the registration process. Some readers enter bogus information, while others are looking for ways to bypass the registration roadblocks.

[TheDave]

That sites a great idea. I always enter completely bogus information but attempt to cover it as legitimate. Just to mess with them.. God knows what use those statistics have.

[Rosalind]

I'm in two minds about this. I don't like sites that ask too many personal details, such as income levels. But if this sort of thing increases, registration only sites may become subscription-only, or they will start using measures such as limiting the amount of times one login name can access the site each month.

It will mean that if you want a registration-only site it will be a lot of work. Whether people pay with money, or in exchange for information, or through advertising, restricting access to their content for those who don't pay is the right of every website owner.