[optshun]

The only LLM-as-a-service I use is phind for the sole reason that it allows me to use it without "signing up" first.

If the sign up is a necessary barrier for your needs is for you to decide, but I just wanted to let you know that I was excited to try your product for my wood working and 3d printing needs until the required signup.

Just some anecdata that even a little friction can be a hindrance in people using your product.

[duped]

That's why it's a good filter. Friction isn't a bad thing if it filters out poorly matched leads.

[Falimonda]

If I may ask, why are you so against signing up for these tools?

[optshun]

A number of reasons.

Chiefly, a desire for privacy and anonymity. A signup will identify my interactions with an endpoint dedicated to me circumventing other privacy and anonymity measures I take such as fingerprint resisting and use of VMs and VPNs.

Also, sharing my email puts me at risk of having my email forwarded against my will or without my consent, as well as potentially clogging my inbox with endless "promotional updates".

Finally, I am unable to make an informed decision whether the risks of sharing my email with this company is worth the utility of the tool it provides until after I try it.

I think a fair response to your question is a question of its own: What do they want with my email?

[batch12]

So I have struggled with this when building services that need to store a user's data or manage a user identity. I'd prefer to not collect an email address. For me it comes down to whether or not I need to support features that most users expect like resetting an account password or notifying the user about some event.

[optshun]

I get it, and labor on the question as well with the tools I make.

The problems you present seem easily managed with an option to sign up while limiting certain use cases to those using the service anonymously.

I like a limited local first design, and a “demo login” with a simulated fully featured account that I feel allow a person to make the decision to share a piece of their identity with our product without any stress or coercion.

I tried to acknowledge that they may think the sign up is necessary for them, and that is a completely acceptable decision to make. I was just pointing out that it carries the risk of turning away weirdos like me.

If I was to build something in the LLM space I would likely try to glean some answers to these questions by cold emailing the phind team to ask them what considerations went into their decision to provide their tool in the way they do.

[stevage]

Do services like mailinator still exist? Temporary emails that you can use then throw away if there's no pay-off?

[krasin]

I am not the OP, but I also skipped on trying the demo, because I didn't want log with my real email into a random website (a few too many times it led to unwanted interactions), and I didn't bother to create a temp account.

It's just easier to wait another few months until somebody does it in the open.