Too many login options and too many different accounts

Question

Is there any reason why we can't just have one set of login details, to get into one account, to access all Stack Exchange sites? I often go away from the site simply because I can't be bothered to log in to do whatever it was I came there for.

This isn't helped by the fact that I can't use my normal password here, so I had to add a couple of characters to it and I can't remember what they were. I don't care that much if someone else gets access to my Stack Exchange account, so the restrictions seem a bit over the top - people who want to use secure passwords can use them; I'd rather not be forced into it for something as trivial as a question and answer site.

Answer 1

Yes, please. From a user experience point of view, it's quite annoying to realize that I wanted to upvote something, realizing that I can't and then go through the sign-up process, just to upvote something.

If we don't want to join all the sites or just have one network account, have a 'Join Site' button at the top if people are logged in to their SE account already, which joins the site (and refreshes the page?), maybe even right next to the sign up button.