[Nagyman]

I have a hypothesis that a lot of less-than-savvy internet users think filling out those pop-ups is just akin to a login form. "Oh, I have to fill out my email to see this, sure!" That doesn't explain the efficacy of increased sales though :)

The experience _can_ be ok, if it's easy enough to dismiss. The pattern that drives me a little nuts is the "intent to close tab" event trigger. I just wanted to switch tabs, calm down, I'm not leaving your site.

[elif]

I've been a professional coder for 14 years if you consider that savvy...

I am constantly finding products that interest me, and have no hesitation of putting my unaliased gmail address into random product sites.

You may be surprised to learn that my inbox is not a cesspool, there is nothing in there which I didn't ask for.

I believe the aversion to spreading email addresses online is actually a holdover emotion from a time when spam was an unaddressed real problem and where obfuscation was possible.

Today, your and my email address are already in hundreds of purchasable lists... and the battle is fought by gmail instead of by me.

[Nagyman]

Awesome. Not overly surprised that someone with years of experience can manage what they're subscribed to AND identify those sites that won't abuse the implied trust in handling that email address :)

Agreed, spam prevention has come a long way on both the client-side (gmail) and regulations (CAN-SPAM), forcing clear unsubscribe paths. Yes, the damage of past behaviour is hard to reverse.

Next generation of users don't allot much attention to email, so liking/following is the way to "subscribe to product info". Otherwise, those exclusively email-based popovers are just a nuisance to that audience; good ones include other channels.

[wishinghand]

I think those of us who frequent Hacker News have issues with pop-up email subscription forms that the general population does not.

My guess is that they see it as "oh I like this a lot, I'll sign up for more so I don't have to remember to come back and check this site."

[softawre]

ctrl+tab switches tabs, most sites use mouse movement to show you the popups. Switch to keyboard shortcuts :)

[Nagyman]

Thanks. I use multiple ways to change tabs. CMD+<number> (most often used), CMD+OPT+<left|right arrow>, mouse, or trackpad; depends where my hands are at the time.

ctrl+tab actually feels a bit awkward on my MBP and only shows 5 tabs on FF Nightly; seems to be sourced from the most recently used ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[GrinningFool]

I'd be a happy camper if there was a sane add-on for FF that let me quickly navigate links on a page. With sites being as interactive as they are, "tab" just doesn't cut it (not more efficiently than the mouse, anyway).