As a user, I almost always abandon a form that requires my birth date without any apparent legal or governmental need.
One's birth date is up there on the list of most-private private data, and I immediately question how and to whom my information may eventually be passed or sold. I don't necessarily have the same gut, paranoid reaction when prompted for my age, and although one could extrapolate the year of my birth from that, I assume if it gets sold or passed along with other data I've provided, it's all so much market research. A seasoned contestant doesn't worry that the contest owners can use the info he provides to hack his online bank account or other sensitive accounts, and avoids the contests that require that kind of information for entry (no matter how nice the prize). Tobacco company websites I imagine go through the same issue, as do M-rated game companies (Rockstar North requires the 3-field birthdate and I just lie on all 3, knowing the point is really to find out that I'm over 18). I would just ask for the person's age, and emphasize that they will be disqualified from winning if they require consent forms and do not follow that flow... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=48490 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
