> Your site wants me to open an account before it is willing to show me something that would commit me.
I agree that an example video or two would be useful long term and I have been planning to add those eventually, but they aren't there yet.
> Also, to be perfectly homest, I would never open an account to see some videos.
Once the course is 100% complete I intend to post most of the videos to YouTube, but that will be gradual and I'll probably always have some sort of "bonus" for signing up. I'm not certain viewing videos on YouTube would result in you being tracked less, but at least it would give you options.
> Why, if I may ask, are you even asking me to open an account? Is this about you teaching me Go or is it about you trying to monetize me?
Being completely upfront here - both.
First, the course is in beta and I use email addresses to tell users about new exercises, request feedback, and try to improve the course.
Second, I want to teach to as many people as possible, but I also need to make a living. So far the best way I have found to do this is to occasionally collect email addresses and tell them about paid work that I think they might enjoy. I don't spam, I don't email often, and if you unsubscribe you will never hear from me again.
If that bothers you, you can just skip this particular course. I won't be offended and I get that not everyone is willing to provide an email address. I also provide free content that doesn't require an email address to access - both my blog and youtube channel are like this.
> What are you logging about me?
I don't track course progress right now - though oddly this is a requested feature by many others. I don't even have Google Analytics on the page.
That doesn't mean I won't ever add some tracking, especially if users are asking for a progress tracker, but for now I don't.
The videos are hosted through Vimeo though, and they appear to have a tracking pixel in their embed.
> Why not make account creation optional?
There are many reasons for this, most outlined above.
I agree that an example video or two would be useful long term and I have been planning to add those eventually, but they aren't there yet.
> Also, to be perfectly homest, I would never open an account to see some videos.
Once the course is 100% complete I intend to post most of the videos to YouTube, but that will be gradual and I'll probably always have some sort of "bonus" for signing up. I'm not certain viewing videos on YouTube would result in you being tracked less, but at least it would give you options.
> Why, if I may ask, are you even asking me to open an account? Is this about you teaching me Go or is it about you trying to monetize me?
Being completely upfront here - both.
First, the course is in beta and I use email addresses to tell users about new exercises, request feedback, and try to improve the course.
Second, I want to teach to as many people as possible, but I also need to make a living. So far the best way I have found to do this is to occasionally collect email addresses and tell them about paid work that I think they might enjoy. I don't spam, I don't email often, and if you unsubscribe you will never hear from me again.
If that bothers you, you can just skip this particular course. I won't be offended and I get that not everyone is willing to provide an email address. I also provide free content that doesn't require an email address to access - both my blog and youtube channel are like this.
> What are you logging about me?
I don't track course progress right now - though oddly this is a requested feature by many others. I don't even have Google Analytics on the page.
That doesn't mean I won't ever add some tracking, especially if users are asking for a progress tracker, but for now I don't.
The videos are hosted through Vimeo though, and they appear to have a tracking pixel in their embed.
> Why not make account creation optional?
There are many reasons for this, most outlined above.