I completely agree with delayed confirmations. On the service we're building right now, we're also letting users get started using the site without signing up at all to begin with. Then, if they want to save their data, they'll need to create an account.
On a desktop app, you don't have to enter a filename until you're ready to save...why should you have to do that on the web? (of course, this isn't useful in cases where data is sensitive)
Yeah, I understand. The email confirmation link just seems like such a barrier to entry. Do you get annoyed every time you have to go confirm your email address? I do.
Sorry I misspoke -- I copy/paste from email confirmation fields. And I understand why password confirmations exist, but I think the option posed in this article is a much more elegant solution to that issue.
I have never understood why I need to type my password twice. Inevitably I just copy what I wrote in the first box into the second.
I'm also interested in the elimination of the post sign-up confirmation email. I'd rather get a "Welcome! If you didn't sign up for this service, click here" email, but I can imagine that if I didn't actually sign up for the service, I'd never want to "click here" for fear of spam. There has to be another option, though. Anyone have any bright ideas?