Wondering why users do what they do? Because you designed your site that way

drawar.com

"If they are going to spend that much time logging in just to leave a comment they are probably going to make sure the comment is worth the trouble."

I might have something valuable to say but I don't bother jumping through hoops, ever. I visit dozens of sites a day from hacker news and I'm not signing up for a dozen blogs a day. The cost is just way too high. Instead, I'll just comment here.

Admittedly, requiring people to sign up will stop people from posting truly contentless replies. But there some very intelligent well spoken people who just won't bother -- they have better things to do.

Right, but HN has its own slight barriers to entry as well. And everyone here is pretty militant about the community in a quality > quantity way. Barrier to entry is essential for community and I guess the thought is that builds better discussions.

This viewpoint is a little developer-centric. Good design should enable users to do what they want to do as well as what you want them to do.

Certainly, what users want to do is influenced heavily by what you want them to do. Good design sets those expectations well.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com