I don’t have an active Twitter account, and have little interest in making one. But there’s one Twitter account that I regularly read: @NWSBayArea. It’s the official account for our local National Weather Service station, and quickly became my go-to source for all things local weather. My weather app gives me info about where I am, right now, but the @NWSBayArea account is a knowledgeable person telling me about what’s going on in the greater region, both now and on larger timescales. From unexpected drizzle to incoming wildfire smoke to how the current rain season is looking, I find it to be immensely valuable.

A few months ago, Twitter implemented a login wall that now limits the number of tweets I can read without logging in. It’s incredibly frustrating. It seems to appear at a different time each time, takes over the whole screen, and can’t be dismissed.

The more I hit this wall, the less amenable I feel towards the idea of making a Twitter account.

I wonder if there are legitimate reasons for this (maybe they are trying to stop abuse by web scrapers?), or if it’s just a naked ploy to increase their account metrics. Either way, it makes me sad that with each login wall like this one, the Internet is becoming a less open and accessible place.