Great little piece. Stuff like this really makes me want to scream. How could these site designers possibly not understand how annoying login screens are? Do they not use the internet themselves? Forced login is the #1 most annoying thing you can encounter at a website, and I know that it seems as if I have all the benefits of hindsight, but I feel very confident in saying that I could have explained this to somebody in 2005. Simply bizarre that this is missed so consistently.
In my experience, it's not site designers making this decision. Especially on larger sites, many business rules come from other places that are more interested in forcing numbers to increase and don't think the whole thing through like a designer might.
And, let's not forget that UX as a thing is much more accepted as an important thing today than when this article was written. It's still a challenge for a lot of large companies, but there are many that are finally starting to catch on.
Facebook isn't a retail site, it makes sense that you would need to login, because it's what's customize the site to you.
I think the complaint about login are on sites where it can't make any possible difference to what you came to do. Reading an articles or buying sausages should require a login, because it can't possibly contribute positive to the experience to add the extra step.
Honestly I believe that's why pay-walls doesn't work. It's not the at least some people won't pay, it's just that the processes of having to login to access something you paid for is reducing the appeal. I have a subscription for the Economist, I never use the online content, because I can't be bothered to login. I can't remember my username, or my password. It just because a hurdle and in the end I'd rather not deal with it.
