Why do so many sites require user IDs to interact with them?

[wolfie138]

Why? The internet is a hell hole without an adblocker. I feel for indi content creators with no other revenue stream but too many of them don't curate their adverts properly.

"This one weird trick to earn £50,000 per hour, FROM HOME!!!1!" - **** off

'ing tell me about it. i use ADP at home, when i go to something like Kongregate it rattles up over a dozen blocks on its little hit counter. i'm doing online training here at work, and despite them locking the network down ridiculously tightly for "security" they won't let us use an adblocker, so each page of the training program - and there's an average of about 30 per course - you get 5 ads per page. to pass the time when loading i've been clicking close and marking each and every one as inappropriate/not interested etc, and it makes no difference at all, sometimes you mark it "seen this ad multiple times" and three pages later you get 3 of them on the same page >
aside from that it really ****s me off that i can look at something and then they spam ads for it all over from that point on, i find it really intrusive and don't want my browsing history in effect displayed on every screen.

 

[SlyReaper]

Actually I think YouTube loses money. It only still exists because it's subsidised by Google.

 

[peterwalkley]

Am I the only one seeing the irony here ? Complaining about sites where you have to login on a forum where you must login to post.

 

[FortuitousFluke]

Why? The internet is a hell hole without an adblocker. I feel for indi content creators with no other revenue stream but too many of them don't curate their adverts properly.

"This one weird trick to earn £50,000 per hour, FROM HOME!!!1!" - **** off

That's a lot of money to be earning from home! Please tell me more. Be aware that I won't do bum stuff though, not after the last time.

 

[Shocky-FM]

There are probably hundreds of sites I've signed up for just to access one thing, whether it be to access a file, make a comment or just access an article, and never returned.

 

[Orionaut]

There are probably hundreds of sites I've signed up for just to access one thing, whether it be to access a file, make a comment or just access an article, and never returned.

For one-off purchases from webshops, I have gone back to ordering over the phone.

It is just so much less hassle.

 

[FoxEye]

Clearly being signed in to Google all the time is not giving them a particularly accurate profile of my interests.

I've just had a bunch of chess-related YT videos "recommended for you". I don't play chess. I've never watched a chess video on YT before. I'm always signed in when I do watch stuff.

Why Google, why? Do you want me to take up chess now? Why now of all times?

 

[Angilion]

Clearly being signed in to Google all the time is not giving them a particularly accurate profile of my interests.

I've just had a bunch of chess-related YT videos "recommended for you". I don't play chess. I've never watched a chess video on YT before. I'm always signed in when I do watch stuff.

Why Google, why? Do you want me to take up chess now? Why now of all times?

You should do as Google tells you. Google knows what's best for you. Google knows you better than you know yourself. Google is wise. You will like chess.

On a more serious note, one purpose of gathering information on people is to manipulate them. It would be more surprising if Google wasn't trying to manipulate people. I know that nowadays gathering information on people is widely seen as a goal in itself, but there are companies that also use the information they acquire.

 

[LuckyBenski]

Am I the only one seeing the irony here ? Complaining about sites where you have to login on a forum where you must login to post.

That's not ironic at all. We all have an identity on here in the form of a user name, and we revisit frequently to interact with each other. Wanting to have a quick look at some nudes art on Pinterest or watch a few videos doesn't need a log in, there's no incentive.

 

[Cromulent]

The problem you describe is due to the way databases work that most websites use. They are called relational databases or more commonly RDBMS or SQL databases, and they work by applying a unique ID to a piece of data called a public key or PK. This key is then used to retrieve the data. You can link two different types of data (say a user account and a forum post) by having a foreign key in the forum post pointing to the public key in the user account. Thus every forum post with a foreign key pointing to the public key of the user account you know that user made the forum post. For databases to work, therefore, you need a unique ID for the user. This could be a random string of numbers and letters but because that would be hard to remember most websites have a unique username (for instance my one on this website is Cromulent).

There are databases that work differently, but by far the most popular database system used in websites is the relational database.

 

[FoxEye]

The problem you describe is due to the way databases work that most websites use. They are called relational databases or more commonly RDBMS or SQL databases, and they work by applying a unique ID to a piece of data called a public key or PK. This key is then used to retrieve the data. You can link two different types of data (say a user account and a forum post) by having a foreign key in the forum post pointing to the public key in the user account. Thus every forum post with a foreign key pointing to the public key of the user account you know that user made the forum post. For databases to work, therefore, you need a unique ID for the user. This could be a random string of numbers and letters but because that would be hard to remember most websites have a unique username (for instance my one on this website is Cromulent).

There are databases that work differently, but by far the most popular database system used in websites is the relational database.

I think maybe you've missed the point.

A lot of sites should be perfectly usable with anonymous/no login. Even e-tailers, who have a more legitimate claim to your details than many other sites. But e-tailers have anonymous/guest checkouts, and most sites shouldn't need logons/accounts either.

 

[edscdk]

for sites like iplayer you can use a 30minute email account to register,
so do not need to create additional gmail accounts, maybe forwarding to your main one, in case it gets compromised.

I have my own domain I always find it amusing to register with rude word or [email protected]

 

[No-One]

It’s a similar thing these places that advertise “Free WiFi”. But when you go to connect you find that you first must tell them your name, email, phone number, address, date of birth etc. Why do they need all that?

 

[Burnsy2023]

Actually I think YouTube loses money. It only still exists because it's subsidised by Google.

Doubtful. We don't know, because Alphabet don't report, but it's likely to make a modest profit.

https://medium.com/@intenex/where-a...ata-that-youtube-isnt-profitable-a00aed0672ac