In my experience, it boils down to these assumptions: 1: if your site is uncluttered -- that is, it hides non-essential information -- it will be more appealin

In my experience, it boils down to these assumptions: 1: if your site is uncluttered -- that is, it hides non-essential information -- it will be more appealing to the user; 2: if your site is following practices common to other sites, the average user will have already learned those practices before coming to your site; 3: if a specific user demonstrates a need for guidance/non-essential information, that information should be made explicitly available. Applied to password requirements: - Show the password field without requirements (uncluttered initial state) - If they enter a valid password, all is well (happy path) - If they enter an invalid password, surface the requirements (explicit guidance)