I agree. I can't tell you how many times I've heard about interesting web sites and checked them out only to find that I cannot do a single thing until I create an account. No demo, no trial, no nothing. Of course I just leave.

Well my point here kind of is: most people agree with you. But if you do the website fully without login wall , don't bother putting in an optional login. People like it better without anyway.

I browse without javascript and most sites are crippled this way. I think you can't post here on hacker news without javascript on.

The worst is hitting a site that's blank. I hit those every now and then. Instagram is that way.

This was posted with javascript off...

On the bright side, the quality of paywall-free website has quite improved since.

I kinda miss the old days of the web when downloading a demo meant only being spammed with newsletters and marketing emails. Now something as innocent as downloading a whitepaper means months of plaintive phone calls from inside sales drones pleading "this is the fourth time I've tried to reach you since you downloaded our whitepaper a month ago. I really need 15 minutes of your time...". No, you don't.