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Off topic: I ended up not finishing the article, because first it presented me with a full screen overlay asking me to sign up to their news letter, forcing me to click on "I want to read it first" to see the article.

Then after scrolling down two paragraphs, it presented me with another overlay blocking the article, again asking me to sign up for the newsletter.

Can we please stop rewarding these kinds of practices with traffic by posting and upvoting them?

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A solution to these would be to build a browser extension that automatically submits any such forms with bogus email addresses.

It can't easily be blocked by a captcha as that would hurt conversion rates of legitimate users.

I wonder how much actual conversion happens in these kind of forms, anyway. Who are the people that sign up to newsletters of a random website before even reading anything? And who signs up after reading just an intro?

I get the idea of the mailing lists - generate traffic that does not rely on external platforms, with their ever changing algorithms that need to be appeased and courted, and who might even change the rules or ban you from promoting your content.

But sure the conversion rates for these full screen modal overlays must be lower than the attrition you get from scaring away passer by readers?

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