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Re:Show HN: PDFlower – Reflow PDF papers for small-screen re... by lmg643 on Wednesday January 04, 2017 @10:13AM (#13318865)
why do we need to create an account to try it out?
Re:Show HN: PDFlower – Reflow PDF papers for small-screen re... by wccrawford on Wednesday January 04, 2017 @10:21AM (#13318947)
Reading the page, it looks like your document gets put into a queue for processing, and then you can download it after. I imagine they wanted to avoid all the hassles of emails, as well as having accounts to prime the system if they decide to enhance it as a for-pay service.

It probably also stops assholes from using the service on PDFlower's dime for their own needs.

Re:Show HN: PDFlower – Reflow PDF papers for small-screen re... by halomru on Wednesday January 04, 2017 @11:22AM (#13319529)
There are plenty of services that put my job in a queue and simply update the page via JavaScript to show progress and deliver the end result. The better implementations identify me via session cookie and recognize me when I check back half an hour later to get my results. That's a much nicer experience than creating another account at some random service that I might never visit again.