A 10% conversion rate would be incredible. If that were the case, it would be hard to be angry at people for exploiting this factor.

However, I would be very surprised if the conversion rate of a popup signup sheet is even 2%.

And there is a similar negative conversion effect: If any article asks me to sign up for anything, I stop reading that article immediately, and move on to an article that respects my attention.

Yes, I am in a small minority. But I also share many links with my peeps, and I never share links with popups. I hope that puts pressure on authors to share things freely.