R Hill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > I just wanted to speak up and say that the idea of alarm bells going off > when people see a request for an email address from bugzilla is probably > one of the sillier things I've read this week. Anyone lucid enough to > be reporting a bug to an open source project like GCC realizes (i hope) > in some form how the whole internet-thing works. If you request > support, obviously people need a way to get in touch with you. If > you're looking at GCC and thinking "[EMAIL PROTECTED]@#$" then you may > have more bugs than you thought. ;)
It's not the request for the e-mail address. It's that it's phrased as a login screen and a button to create an account. I know that I definitely pause and consider before I create an account at a web site. There are many on-line newspapers that I refuse to read articles from, for example, because I don't want to create an account. That creates a piece of authorization out there that I have to record a password for and that I'm to some degree responsible for. I think this is mostly just a matter of phrasing and presentation, though, not a fundamental problem. (Another difficulty is that presenting a login screen and inviting people to create an account also implies that if you weren't already invited to create an account, someone might be upset if you just make one. It has a very "members only" sort of feel to it.) -- Russ Allbery ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
