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#darkpattern

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Every site that puts up a cookies dialogue is now saying loudly what their priority is, and it is NOT what they say it is.

It's a massive RED FLAG because they have a choice. Either
- inconvenience you from the very start because overall they see a benefit TO THEM or
- provide an option via a footer link to get extra features by accepting #cookies, say "enable cookies" or "enable extras"

Today's culprit (for the eleventyth time: NO) is #HargreavesLansdown for continued use of this #DarkPattern

Replied in thread

@lolgop I support this idea and I will probably sign the petition (I’m a TM customer. Still mulling over whether I want to support Verizon or AT&T instead).

I support #TeslaTakedown and participated in one of their protests. But look at how scummy this petition is.

First I notice that they inform me that I “may receive” email from a bunch of groups. That’s weird because it implies uncertainty.

Then I notice this microscopic, grey-on-grey text that says “edit subscription preferences”. I haven’t signed in to this site, so how do I even have any preferences to edit? I tap it and it expands to an already-opted-in list of ELEVEN different orgs who will all feel entitled to spam me because they will point to this as the time I affirmatively opted in to receive all their emails.

How many petition signers even see that, much less click it? This is a #DarkPattern and this is really slimy. The ONLY way to be slimier would be to opt me in without even telling me.

The word “preferences” is plural, implying I have more than one preference. In practice my choice is to accept email from all 11 or none. It’s a single preference, hidden from view as much as possible.

Here's a nice #darkpattern from #AmazonQDeveloper. Installing it on my #debian laptop and it pops up this GUI. Now, grey text on white background is a completely pedestrian dark pattern.

The thing that is new for me, that isn't obvious from a single screenshot, is that the "skip" grey text doesn't appear at all for like 10-20 seconds. When you first see this dialog box, there's no 'skip' button. This might lead you to believe it isn't possible to skip. I tend to read things that pop up. And so while I was reading the skip button appeared.

Thanks #darkpatterns

This really rubs me the wrong way.
I'm donating to a charity through givebutter.com, and after I indicated that I wanted to make a one-time $180 donation, it popped up this prompt.
This boils down to, "If you agree to donate twice as much money as you said you wanted to, it'll have twice the impact!" which is tautological, but presented in a way which IMO is a dark pattern.
This is gross.
#GiveButter #charity #DarkPattern

Replied in thread

@vfrmedia @techlore OFC "Tracking" is also offered as something to reduce the rates but I'm against that stuff as a matter of principle.

  • Being that they "reward" people for that with lower premiums, I can imagine a lot of folks getting shafted into agreeing into it.

And I think that's a #DarkPattern that needs to be banned.

  • OFC parts being serialized is common as to both do proper #recalls for #ProductSafety and also to enshure both #compliance with the safety standards as well as track down stolen parts.

And the latter one is a real problem...

SketchplanationsThe Subscription TrapSubscription traps are contracts that are easy to sign up for and hard to cancel. Subscription traps are sneaky. Just like Hotel California, "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave." What a Subscription Trap Looks Like Sometimes, you may go from a free trial to a paid subscription without realising it. Sometimes, you may go months without noticing you're still paying for a subscription. Your contract may renew for a full year before you spot it. And when you try to cancel, you may find yourself jumping through hoops—compared to the few clicks it took you to sign up. My experiences include: Searching for a cancel link online Turning to a customer support chat, which turns out to be a chatbot Finding the chatbot can't cancel for me or, more often, links me to the help article where I started and found I couldn't cancel online Eventually, being transferred to an agent and having to repeat everything Being given a phone number to call Finding their closed because it's the weekend Scheduling a reminder to call back on Monday between meetings Calling, waiting in a queue (as opposed to the rapid response for prospective customers) Running out of time and forgetting to try again until the office is closed. <sigh> Perhaps you'll recognise some of this. Sludge and Why it Matters The kind of bureaucracy and red tape you encounter when trying to cancel or do other things like claim on health insurance is sometimes called sludge. It's the friction stops us from getting things done. In 2014, the UK government thought that unwanted subscriptions were costing people £1.6 billion a year—nearly 10 million of 155 million active subscriptions. They've held a consultation for measures to help avoid subscription traps and scams. California, for example, already has legislation requiring companies to offer online cancellation if they allow online sign-up. Best practice includes Providing clear information about contracts before entering Reminders before moving from trials or discount periods to full-price Reminders before subscriptions renew Making it simple to cancel Some Subscriptions are More Slippery than Others We're less likely to get trapped in some types of subscription. If we subscribe to a box of groceries that appears at our door, we'll trip over the box rather than forget about it. But online-only services or access-based platforms easily slip into the background. You may not notice they're still ticking along if you don't actively visit them. The only trace might be buried in your bank statement—monthly or even annual. Economist Neal Mahoney and colleagues found a neat way to spot the subscription trap in action (pdf). They looked at cancellation rates over time and noticed something curious: when people's payment cards expired, they often didn't bother to restart the subscription with new card details. That simple disruption—a forced pause—was enough for many people to realise they didn't need the service after all. Incentives and Legislation I've been on both sides of the subscription trap. It might be deliberate on behalf of a company. However, it can also be a product of incentives and environment. Without new customer growth, a business doesn't last long. So, there's a lot of incentive to work on streamlined sign-up and onboarding. Hopefully, effort also goes into building a great product that makes people want to stay. However, once someone has decided to leave, there's often less incentive to make it a great experience, short of avoiding bad reviews. I think it's generally not malicious—see Hanlon's razor. People know that cancelling isn't as easy as it should be, but they're measured on other targets that increase revenue or decrease costs. New projects are launched to do the same rather than "sink" money into making it easier for people to leave. There will also often be a new customer onboarding team and no offboarding team at all (see Conway's Law). This makes it a natural place for legislation to help out us punters just looking to cancel without spending all morning on the phone. Don't get Caught! If you want to save money, reviewing your subscriptions and knowing what you're spending is a smart first step. We have a spreadsheet with all active monthly payments. A quick scan makes it easy to see what we still use or don't. And yes, battle through the sludge and bureaucracy—it's worth it! Related Ideas to the Subscription Trap Also see: Dark patterns - using design to deceive The Shirky Principle - institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution Goodhart's Law - when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure Campbell's Law - the more any quantitative social indicator is used for decision-making, the more likely it is to be distorted Conway's Law - software reflects the structure of the teams that built it You Get What You Measure Don't ask the barber if you need a haircut Amazon and Uber's Virtuous Cycle for Mega Growth The Business Flywheel For interviews with Mahoney and Thaler (of sludge and nudge), see (once again) Freakonomics, Sludge, Part 2: Is Government the Problem, or the Solution?
Continued thread

New #DarkPattern spotted! Is it any wonder why most people just click "I accept" and move on?

Solution: give an easy "No, thanks" button on the initial popup. And if you *must* have a dedicated page, have two separate, clearly labeled buttons for agree and disagree. It's not that hard, do better.

Continued thread

An example of frustration with Google.

Google added a compulsory "system browser" to my Android.

Should be a no-frills unowned Internet browser, right?

Sorry, read the privacy policy. It's a company data harvester for some random shell company.

That's a dark pattern!
#darkPattern #Google #Android

Actually, dark patterns do exist on #Mastodon. We don’t recognize them as dark patterns because we’re too politicized to see what’s obvious in plain sight.

But here’s an example of a #darkpattern on Mastodon: harassers being able to send you abusive messages as “followers only”. This renders the message invisible from public view while being visible to everyone who follows the abuser – followers who are likely to have the same toxic affinity as the abuser.

Let’s not pretend this is not a dark pattern. It clearly is.

RE: https://mastodon.social/users/harryprayiv/statuses/114082840668402297