[rnadna]

You are right. It's very annoying. It's even worse than having links that are behind a paywall, because at least a paywall usually indicates that funds are flowing to the person (reporter, etc.) who created the content. The google groups situation is quite different, and quite annoying. I never login to google groups to see something listed on HN. I wonder whether HN could provide an option to let readers avoid such items, by removing them from the listing or flagging them?

[dangrossman]

You are only being asked for a password because you're (partially) logged in to a Google Account already. Either log out, or open Google Groups links with "open in incognito window" if you use Chrome.

[kcbanner]

Another poster said this only happens if you are logged in but need a session refresh.