Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you invited me to your library, where you have books you have paid for, I would not consider it rude if you interrupted me for a few seconds with this request. Heck, if you DEMANDED I give you my email before coming in, I think I would accept the exchange. Just click the X and be on with your day. This does not seem like a ridiculous request at all.
I have clicked on my last X for the day. This is getting to be worse than the X10 camera pop up ads from years ago. I’m a person, not a conversion or an eyeball, and if someone offers me a document I expect to be able to read it without being harassed. It’s a sad state of affairs when even MIT, an apparently esteemed university is only publishing information for the sake of the grift, rather than to stimulate the pub…
Oh, the waves of nostalgia!