Trust me, no one missed that point. You just seem to brush over the fact that there can be reasons to force a person to register DESPITE them “likely not returning”.
So? Because others do it, it must be the right approach? Are you really not seeing the objective logical flaw in that reasoning?
And should we point you to a few of the hundreds of thousands of websites that DO require a registration? Do THOSE sites then equally prove that it is the right decision to force a registration? See how this type of reasoning doesn’t work?
Good for you. Others have different goals. Yet, you want to paint it as if their approach must be based on “bad decisions”. And you assert questionable reasons like “inflating registration numbers”. Who said that was a reason? No one. So why do you assert it and put it out there? It’s dishonest! You ignore the reasons that people are actually giving you and make up your own reason for them, which you can then dismiss as bad. And you assert that forcing a registration cannot “serve a purpose”. Sorry, but that is either arrogance or ignorance. You assert that your approach and your opinion must be the only valid one – despite the millions of websites and apps requiring registrations who’s owners all apparently do not see what you see.
Oh, that is simple: Because you might want the file.
It’s just another trade offer. For commercial offers, it’s product traded for money. In the freemium field on the internet, it can also be file or service traded for registration. You decide if it’s worth it to you. If not, just move on.
Just because the offer doesn’t work for you, doesn’t mean that the one making the offer has made a mistake. It just means you are not the right “customer” for their offer. If I walk through a mall, there are thousands of offers that don’t work for me. Yet, I don’t approach the store owners telling them they are doing it wrong, because their offers don’t match what the products would be worth it to me. That would be kind of ridiculous. Yet, it’s exactly what you are doing here.