Hey Todd,

To lend credence to their claims of "not selling info or spamming registered users", I have been registered for two weeks now on a new email address that no one has but them and I have only received a conformation letter and a newsletter from them. The new email address came free with my new DSL connection. I'll keep you posted if they ever spam me.

I think registering users makes users a little more accountable. IMHO since they are offering this service free (and they are just a small company out of Idaho) they can limit bandwidth to those folks who are serious about obtaining the info. Even google and youtube make you register to access many features of their site's content. The information age is a great resource but one side effect is bringing less privacy and I can understand folks who have a problem with that, it took a while for me to loosen my grip a little too.

Cheers,
Nemo

Edit: To add I think number of registered users would also be more attractive to potential advertisers than a general number of hits. It might be one reason why myspace and facebook are so popular. Also much of the information they are offering is "how to" in nature and not on "products" to sell. They do of course have products they recommend and sell through their site, but many things like their cooking courses and emergency prep videos are mainly informational in nature. Just my opinion...jeez I just realized I sound like a business man and I'm only an academic.