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Confirmation emails might be useless, but notifications of new features are not spam.

I generally get annoyed at sites that keep emailing me about new features. I always unsubscribe or opt-out at sign in, but some people don't offer that feature.

Yup. If they don't let up, I mark those emails as "spam" in my Gmail. I guess that counts against them.

They should have a "Don't mail me bro" checkbox. I don't always agree with their definition of "spam".

Yes you're right - this was just off the top of my head...

There might of course also be other valid reasons for wanting an e-mail adresse.

Yeah, for example uniquely identifying users.

You can do that with a username....

True however then users have to think followed by get frustrated dreaming up a name. They already know their email address. And unless they already signed up its probably not taken.

I think the frustration of entering your email, checking you inbox and following a confirmation link is a lot more than the frustration of dreaming up a name - which you have to do anyway unless you use your email as a login.

I think that the metrics support this view as well.

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