I like WPTavern, and thought that registering for the forums could be a good way to show support, even potentially be useful.

My birthday? *Required*? C'mon.

Ok ... providing what appeared to be a valid/legal birth date (I tried the non-legal, blow-it-off version, first), a return message now informs: "Sorry, we are unable to register your account at this time."

And then there will be the so-called spam filter, which is actually a quiz-question, or maybe a creative-writing contest. Oh goodie.

I mean, rilly, d'ya want people to sign up for this thing, or not? D'ya think, jus maybe, these kinds of irrelevant intrusions & gratuitous gauntlets could be the teensiest factor in the present need to encourage registration/participation ... on what is after all one of the highest-profile WP sites in the universe?

Could be, imo.