I get what your'e saying with games and levels.
I also know that a lot of people start with a huge burst of motivation and then burn out a few days later. Typically, they will read through an entire book in one or a few sittings and then they will proceed to do......nothing.
Tools is set up with "Days" that you can't pass until you've finished the one before for exactly this reason. They don't want you to try to do 10 days at once. The entire point is that it is impossible (or at least MUCH more difficult) to change unless it is done gradually over time. You put the odds in yoru favor if you small-chunk it and let things take root. Allowing access to everything would completely sabotage this. This is, perhaps, one of the best parts of the site.
Of course it creates a problem, as you said, Bruce. It's the "I don't know what you're about so why should I devote my time" problem. Credibility indicators are important when trying to make these decisions. I had the same problem you had, Bruce. I didn't know what this program was about either, so why did I trust it with my time? I just looked at it and saw that a lot of other people had benefited enormously, so I decided to close my eyes and take the plunge. It has paid off in SPADES for me. If it hadn't, I could have ditched it at anytime. Fortunately for me, it improved my life already within the first week and it just kept getting better from there. That saved me from ditching it too early and missing out.
It seems like you are wearing an "optimiser" hat in this discussion. You're operating as if you owned TTL and seeing how you would improve it. You notice that there are lots of things you would change and immediately see a site that isn't capturing its potential.
However, there's more than one hat to wear in this situation. Any site may lose potential with "I don't want to make money" design, but if it holds the answers that you need, then YOU lose too by passing it by. I mean, letting both parties win is good business, but you may still stand to win so much that it makes sense to overlook what you deem subpar practices. After all, as a consumer, I often am selfishly looking for the biggest "win" for me. I don't so much care if I buy it from someone else who is optimising their win too.
As a personal example, I recently bought a workout program online. The guy who put it together strikes me as not the sharpest. His materials are also sloppily put together. His book is chock full of typos and his products are in some cases spread across different sites and require me to hop from one to the next to get what I need. I don't care though. His content is awesome, extremely helpful, and was a missing keystone for me "getting it" in terms of what yields results and what doesn't in the gym. He's incredibly successful, most likely in spite of his business practices, all because crappy design or not, his content is still so good it's delivering massive value to people. Could he make more? Sure. Do I care? No, because either way I win by buying from him and lose if I don't.
Either way, I respect your decision. I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't, since one trend throughout my life has been A) Start out by ridiculing B) Cement my firm rejection C) Become intrigued D) Try it E) Become a huge fan F)Become confused why other people don't immediately embrace it. I am, unfortunately, aware of that irony.
Who knows, maybe at some point you'll decide to try it. Maybe you won't. Both are ok, and both will be perfect for you whatever you decide. Even when I do a complete about face in my life, both the rejection and acceptance of an idea seem to have been perfect for my development at the time.
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