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?
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.
If you're signed in to a Google account already but your session is inactive, you might be asked to re-authenticate. If you're not signed in at all, you don't get asked.
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As a side note, why is it that I have to sign in to Google in order to be able to see this? Is registration /really/ necessary for Google Groups?
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?
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.
Another poster said this only happens if you are logged in but need a session refresh.
If you're signed in to a Google account already but your session is inactive, you might be asked to re-authenticate. If you're not signed in at all, you don't get asked.
Strange, I'm not logged in to my Google account and could read the article without any issues.
It works fine here (Chrome on Windows) even if I log out.
I think it's a bug. Are you on a mobile browser?
Yeah I think it's a bug with mobile... happens on my ipad all the time (super annoying) but not my PC.