>"I can understand subscriptions where I pay for the service, but signing
>in just so they know who I am is a bit puzzling. . . .
>How do others on the list feel about the issue?"

I've not really been bothered by the concept... I have a couple of
"throwaway" e-mail accounts that I use specifically for this purpose, and I
seldom if ever use any valid information other than city and state.... they
have a number of "required" fields, and the rest I just leave blank.

>I have two problems with this:
>
>First of all, I can't remember all the logins and passwords for newspapers
>I would only occasionally look at.

Not a problem for me... I use one login and password for all of these...
and I made it something real simple to remember.  The occasional one that
requires a numeric character as a lead or tail, I use the same number for
as well.

>Second, they always seem to ask questions about you, your income,
>interests and hobbies, and it won't process your request until you answer
>them.  I just want to read one article!

Most of the sites I've seen this stuff is all optional... but if they
require it, I give them the lowest income (so they won't want to sell me
anything) and some bizarre interests and hobbies that there will be few or
none for them to "set me up with"... like mouse breeding, cat herding,
lightning catcher, etc... =)

>I've just decided that if I have to register, the article's not worth the
>trouble it takes to read it.  I know I miss some interesting articles, but
>it's not worth my time to fool with all that.

Ahh... but to the contrary, many times the article IS worth the effort!!

Larry

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