I’m writing a website / book for community groups about using Internet technology. As part of this I need to log in to all kinds of services and make screenshots as I work through some basic procedures.
It so happens I already have logins on a lot of services: Basecamp, WordPress.com, Flickr and so on, but there are many more where I don’t. And since the service just doesn’t apply to me I don’t want a real account.
Moreover, where I do have a real account already, I might not really want to mess around with it, or make screenshots of actual information. I’m not sure my clients would appreciate the privacy implications of my making screenshots of their stuff in Basecamp, for example.
I’d love it if each and every service would have a ‘writers account’. A writers account would let me sign up, and log in. There would be a hidden button or something where I could fill the [whatever] with some dummy content. I could make screenshots, add and delete content as I needed to, and then I could just delete the whole thing when I was finished. Or, of course, it would be deleted at regular intervals anyway (daily, perhaps), as happens with some of the demos you see around for CMS or blogs.
This would benefit the service, because when reviewers and trainers write about it they’re spreading the message. It would also mean all us writers wouldn’t be leaving behind a trail of dummy content.
Anyway, here I go, creating a CafePress account simply so I can write about it …
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