Comments on: Why Log-in?

Question: Why Log-in?

orlin — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:28:24 -0800

Why do most web-sites you want to check-out require you to "sign-in" with a user name and password to access there comments or free videos etc.. Is it a way to spam you or is there really any real use to the site owner?

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:31:06 -0800

It makes it easier to track unique visitors. Also for comments, etc. it helps prevent comment spamming.

By: dondiego87

dondiego87 — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:32:05 -0800

Echoing GuyZero.

By: Sticherbeast

Sticherbeast — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:33:44 -0800

It also helps direct advertising to specific individuals (well, specific profiles). If it's a free video site and you're looking at a lot of cat videos, they'll be able to know to advertise a whole bunch of cat and pet stuff. If you're looking at a lot of British comedy, they'll know to advertise a lot of British comedy stuff. And so on.

By: Memo

Memo — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:35:07 -0800

Damage control.
Besides, popularity tends to be a big thing in the internet so being able to say '362367 registered members' is important.

By: unixrat

unixrat — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:37:43 -0800

I run a couple of non-profit sites and we use it to prevent spamming.

Because spammers will fill any open nook or cranny with complete shit. They really will. Scumbags, all of them.

By: orlin

orlin — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:43:57 -0800

Thanks to all for your explanation...

By: fishfucker

fishfucker — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:45:47 -0800

for many non-profit/not-for-profit sites/blogs it is largely an obstacle to spammers.

for commercial enterprises, that's your subscriber base. It's a set of demographics which you can then inform potential advertisers about, or mine for your own marketing purposes. There's a lot of interesting work to be done here, really -- most people are blowing it: they know they need to get the data, but once they have it, they don't know what to do with it aside count uniques. There are some new approaches being taken, however, and marketing online is going to get really interesting in the next 5-10 years, as good techniques and processes for flexing the data you've gathered are established.

By: fishfucker

fishfucker — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:53:34 -0800

Some current examples of this sort of thing are:

* when i call my pizza place, they have my last order on file. It's really simple, and stupid, but it is handy. They know i use a 'coupon', and now my interaction is pretty much just giving them my phone number and telling them cash/credit.

* Many grocery now print out 'relevant' coupons when you checkout -- often for items you purchase regularly.

Now, these are sort of inelegant and obvious uses of data, but there's so many people NOT even doing these sorts of things. The first time I was a repeat customer at the pizza place, i was somewhat impressed, just because that doesn't happen very often in my offline transactions. Now let's imagine a somewhat more sophisticated example: a restaurant doesn't have a lot of customers on a Tuesday, and they run their 'get customers' script from their website, which sends out a text-message/email coupon offering a 20% off a meal deal to an opt-in list of people who fit the demographic. This sort of thing is already possible with the data people are collecting, but nobody is really doing it yet.

By: procrastination

procrastination — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 09:11:14 -0800

This is a good time to put in a plug for BugMeNot.

By: HotPatatta

HotPatatta — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 09:54:53 -0800

So many sites are implementing or planning to implement Web 2.0 features (i.e., social tagging, social networking, customized search results, personalized recommendations, etc.). That's one reason. The other reason is for advertising.

By: GregX3

GregX3 — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:39:01 -0800

I mainly use it to add a community feel to the site and improve site "stickiness" i.e., you're more likely to come back if registered.

By: nakedcodemonkey

nakedcodemonkey — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:03:21 -0800

In addition to the reasons already mentioned:

If there is any community aspect (for instance commenting or ratings), a login provides some measure of accountability. If the person doesn't behave in accordance with the community's standards, they can be disciplined.

If there's a liability issue (for instance, with uploads), registration is crucial for getting the ~~terms of service~~ liability waiver signed before letting the user do anything that could cause trouble.

On sites where they're selling ads/sponsorships, accounts can be a way to gather more accurate usage stats (e.g. "Mr. Advertiser, your ad will be seen by 10k unique users") than can be extrapolated from server logs.

By: Mr. Gunn

Mr. Gunn — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 11:37:59 -0800

So they can turn off ads for logged in members.