You Can Check Out Any Time You Like But…

I’m a beta junkie.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve probably signed up for a few hundred new online services just to check them out. The vast majority have received a nibble or two while a select few are in regular rotation.

For the ones quickly added to “been there, tried that” heap, the problem is while it’s easy to get in, it’s pretty much impossible to get out.

Have you ever tried to delete an account you created? You can’t do it. You can edit your profile to “erase” your personal and contact info but you can’t delete your account.

As a result, there are bits and bytes of you scattered around the Web – even within services that you haven’t used in months or years.

I guess the idea is it’s so difficult for Web startups to attract you, the last thing they want to do is make it easy for you to walk away. After all, there just may come a day when you’ll come back so they want your account to be ready even if it has to be dusted off.

So, in many ways, the beta landscape is lot like the Eagles’ Hotel California where:

You can checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!

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