Products · Pattern or everyday thing
Website sign-up forms
Raised as a usability problem by 36 people on Hacker News over 17 years (2009–2025), in 32 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Strange registration flows and password rules make people abandon sign-upUnreviewed
20092026- Abandons sign-ups on sites with bespoke registration flows and inane password requirements2024-08-13
- Signup is the default, so users accidentally create duplicate accounts instead of logging in2023-07-18
- Forces upfront account details and password generation for rarely used sites2022-11-23
Users dismiss the email check dialog and enter wrong addressesUnreviewed
20092026- Rejects valid email addresses with no error message, so users can't tell why2022-03-16
- Wrong recipients get mail and must dig through accounts to find an opt-out2021-05-24
- Users dismiss the email double-check dialog without reading it, so they enter wrong addresses2013-11-11
Signing up takes many steps: email, password, verification, link clickUnreviewed
20092026- Signing up requires many steps: email, new password, verification email, link click2019-01-04
- Sign up button leads to a sign-in screen with no way to create an account2014-06-05
- Signing up for websites is a tedious, painful process to go through2013-09-11
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 37 complaints
- Subscription prompt blocks the screen on phone, can't easily close it and it reappears on every zoom2025-04-01
- Contact form opens automatically and cannot be hidden, so users need an ad blocker2024-08-23
- Abandons sign-ups on sites with bespoke registration flows and inane password requirements2024-08-13
- Number pad can't be used for 2FA code entry, forcing number row typing2024-04-17
- Forced email sign-up before seeing content makes people bail or enter bogus addresses2023-08-01
- Signup is the default, so users accidentally create duplicate accounts instead of logging in2023-07-18
- Cannot find where to enable two-factor authentication after logging in2022-12-10
- Forces upfront account details and password generation for rarely used sites2022-11-23
- Users must log in after registering, a hard step that makes them likely to abandon the site2022-11-23
- Typing a password twice during sign-up creates friction that makes users abandon2022-10-10
- Full-page newsletter prompts appear seconds after arrival, stacking on top of cookie consent popups2022-08-01
- Rejects valid email addresses with no error message, so users can't tell why2022-03-16
- Newsletter opt-in checkboxes are required, so people tick them without meaning to2021-10-18
- Wrong recipients get mail and must dig through accounts to find an opt-out2021-05-24
- Registration form rejects existing credentials and makes user re-enter them on a login page2021-05-03
- Form rejects pasting or changing more than one character at a time2020-07-11
- Signing up requires many steps: email, new password, verification email, link click2019-01-04
- Must research whether a site will sell email addresses before signing up2018-11-20
- Popups push visitors to register, a dark pattern chosen for revenue2018-07-31
- Fake full-page design hides content, so visitors can't tell more content exists2018-07-20
- Popup's decline options are misleading, so the user must lie or leave the site2018-02-22
- Fixed banner covers text so page-down needs scrolling back up2017-01-27
- Rejects or truncates last names containing a space, or splits them into the middle-name field2016-12-27
- Registration friction from having to invent a unique username and password2014-06-13
- Can't find FAQ or business info without signing up first2014-06-05
- Sign up button leads to a sign-in screen with no way to create an account2014-06-05
- Sign-up prompt appears on the front page before users can see any content2014-03-15
- Repeated address entry on the same form makes the program seem unintelligent2013-11-12
- Typos in email field trigger submission and block the account name2013-11-11
- Users dismiss the email double-check dialog without reading it, so they enter wrong addresses2013-11-11
- Having to fill out duplicate fields is a massive pain for users2013-11-11
- Signing up for websites is a tedious, painful process to go through2013-09-11
- Signup form is hidden behind a submit button, so the user cannot find it2013-07-30
- Footer keeps reappearing mid-content and vanishes after entering name on iPad2013-07-05
- Forced sign-up banners and in-page pop-ups that blockers can't stop2013-03-13
- Users must re-enter the same name and email info on every site2012-07-10
- Plain text boxes break users' expectation of WYSIWYG editing and differing markup per site2009-10-23