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Ask HN: Why sign in/out replaced log in/out?

9 points by hknmtt ↗ HN
I've been online for over two decades now and I have noticed that the usual "log in", "log out" has been slowly replaced by "sign in" and "sign out" in the past half a decade.

Also "sign up" has replaced "register" and "create account".

Does anybody know why?

13 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 41.8 ms ] thread
BiteCode_dev
I always though it was because it was easy to confuse with logging.
ragingrobot
My best guess would be familiarity, a connection to the real world.

When you go into a physical location, say visiting a hospital or business, you "sign in" and "sign out" of that place.

When you participate in an activity, for example a class or sports club, you "sign up" to join.

patatino
And who knows why I always have to search for the login link? Sure, new accounts are cool, but existing members should be treated better
seattle_spring
I can answer this one:

Companies optimize for getting new users. Highlighting the register button reduces some friction that may have otherwise prevented some users from signing up.

On the other hand, a user that wants to sign in is much less likely to "give up" if they don't immediately see the button. Important and limited header space therefore is dedicated to getting new users.

charles_f
That's an interesting question. Especially, I would associate "signing up" more with a paying subscription then I would a registration or an account creation
revskill
Because it's hard to pronounce the "L".
frou_dh
Probably because the term SSO (Single Sign On) was coined and used "sign", and the various "Sign in with $BigTechCompany" buttons are everywhere, so "logout" started conspicuously not matching.
joshxyz
to me its because there is sign up in and out. but there is no log up. for me it brings consistency.
brudgers
Concerns over deforestation has made logging less socially acceptable?
fancymcpoopoo
log in is too technical. over two decades everything has been marketed to as many dumb dumbs as possible.
muzani
I've had some users confuse the terms. We use register, log in, logout now.

Sign up and sign in confused some people because of how it mentally translated to some people's native language. We targeted more elderly people too, who didn't know the difference.

I assume that log in and log out might translate poorly to some other languages. Lots of people optimize heavily on registration, like even a 1% difference can be significant. And copy is low effort, so I assume there's a reason it evolved this way. Maybe it's a hint on which market the website targets.