Ok, even though the title is a bit over the top, there seems to be a new push to look at the real benefits of forcing users to register before they are able to see any content on newspaper sites. Mathew Ingram asks the question, How many does registration keep out? Obviously, I had to read this because he specifically calls us out and I wish I had a better answer for him.

I don’t believe in the registration wall though I know many people here still do. I don’t think it really gains us anything if people have to register before reading anything. Why would they want to come back if a wall is their first experience with the site? And why would anyone want to link to any of the content if they can’t guarantee people will actually be able to read it? These to me are important questions which need to be thought about and answered.

I could see a system which allowed anyone to read as many articles as they wanted without having to give any type of information. They could even rate things, Digg-style, without registering. If they wanted to leave a comment, simple registration would need to happen. They key is give a benefit for registering. Perhaps something like a profile page which aggregated the various things you did on a site, the comments you left, the reviews you created and anything else offered.


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I think registration is necessary for many (obvious) reasons but I’m in favor of providing a very low barrier to entry to begin with. Content should be readily available until an opportunity is presented to provide further customization.

For example, if you want to see regular updates on a particular segment of the real estate market - you are asked to provide your email address as username and a randomly generated password is already surfaced to start your profile.

From there the approach should be to organically grow a full profile. I grow weary of the registration page which asks everything from me up front. Frustrating that I’m asked to customize all the preferences in my profile *before* I really understand or know about the content.

Profile pages should be built based on decisions and interests of the user as they discover more aspects of the site that are interesting to them. A robust profile that is built over time means the user has come back and wants more.

Bill added these pithy words on Jan 03 08 at 4:00 pm

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