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Dark Patterns are designed to confuse and enroll

arstechnica.com

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Re: Dark Patterns are designed to confuse and enroll

#71

Post by Endy »

cptskippy wrote: post #56
oblio wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reader has the same thing :(

I uninstalled Reader when in started forcing UI toolbars to be open an visible every time a PDF was opened even after I'd explicitly hidden them. I haven't looked back either. I have yet to encounter a PDF that doesn't render correctly in FireFox's built in PDF.JS. I know Reader has additional features but I've honestly never used them. You can easily set FireFox as your default PDF view and you're off to the races.…

I can show you several form-fillable PDF files which FF does not merely break, but absolutely destroys. Then again, I'm not interested in my Web browser invading my offline activity.

Re: Dark Patterns are designed to confuse and enroll

#72

Post by FireBeyond »

mknocker wrote: post #10

Some of these cases are not only dark patterns, they constitute was it legally known as fraud. If you deceive someone in order to gain a financial advantage, it is fraud. The problem is that going against those gigantic companies is very difficult.

And then others aren't dark patterns. One of the first examples, British Airways, is pretty unfairly called out.

The article says that they imply "cheapest at the top". No, the flights aren't shown "cheapest at the top", and they never imply they are. They're sorted in chronological order.

There is a summary item that says the lowest fare for a booking class that day, but that's all.

Re: Dark Patterns are designed to confuse and enroll

#73

Post by aembleton »

noxToken wrote: post #19
LeonM wrote: post #9

What about those 'free' WiFi access points that require you to login with Facebook for 'prevention of abuse', and then abuse your Facebook account by posting you were there.

Do you have an example of that? That can't be a thing.

It's a thing. I've only seen it once, at a pub in the countryside where there is no phone signal. I refused to sign in, but then several of my friends did.

This is a service provided by Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/business/facebook-wifi

Re: Dark Patterns are designed to confuse and enroll

#74

Post by ipsin »

amelius wrote: post #32

> Though perhaps the worst class of dark pattern is forced continuity, the common practice of collecting credit card details for a free trial and then automatically billing users for a paid service without an adequate reminder. The fact that this is even possible makes me feel like I'm in the middle ages.

Oh God, there's a special place in hell for stamps.com.

I did not read the fine print, but made the mistake of thinking that it was a partnership with USPS and did not incur extra fees (like a crazy $13 monthly fee, even if you're not using the service).

By the time I discovered that, I also discovered that you can sign up on line, but you have to cancel by phone (or "being on hold", I discovered it).

Seriously. Never stamps.com.

Re: Dark Patterns are designed to confuse and enroll

#76

Post by PavlovsCat »

ivraatiems wrote: post #29
sp332 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, just type then? I use Cortana to set reminders occasionally, but I can't remember the last time I used the voice interface. My PC at home doesn't even have a microphone.

Oh yeah, I do. The problem is that Cortana has supplanted basic search functionality. As far as I can tell, when you type a search in the Start menu you're still going through Cortana, technically (that's why she's always running even when she's turned off from listening to you). Cortana has access to a limited subset of your computer. She can't search things outside your C:\Users\[your username] directory. Regular W…

I'm not affiliated, but it's a shameless plug anyway because I'm huge fan of it since its Amiga days: Get Directory Opus, that is, download the free trial of the pro version and explore the settings and help files some, and of course, use the search function, too... let's see if you can do without it afterwards :) I for one cannot STAND using windows without Directory Opus after having used it with, it's one of the precious few applications which have been pretty much perfect for a long time, yet keep getting better. Sorry not sorry for rambling, I love this thing.

Re: Dark Patterns are designed to confuse and enroll

#77

Post by throwanem »

rfrey wrote: post #49
wldcordeiro wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, AllTrails recently went with a dark-pattern, want to see any info on the trail? Sign-up. If you don't you'll get a brief flash of the detail page before redirecting to a sign-up form.

That does not sound like it's trying to trick you. They're offering something valuable in return for your email address. That is what every startup guru advises companies to do. Apparently the value wasn't high enough for you to sign up. That's fine. But why is it a "dark pattern"?

Because you can't fairly evaluate the offering if you can't see it until after you've already given away the item of value (in this case, your email address) in exchange for which the offering is made.

Re: Dark Patterns are designed to confuse and enroll

#78

Post by nommm-nommm »

ethanbond wrote: post #39
amelius wrote: post #32

> Though perhaps the worst class of dark pattern is forced continuity, the common practice of collecting credit card details for a free trial and then automatically billing users for a paid service without an adequate reminder. The fact that this is even possible makes me feel like I'm in the middle ages.

Check out privacy.com! Easy burner CC numbers.

Old idea. There's banks and cc companies that currently and previously have offered this. It never caught on because there's not a market for it.

Re: Dark Patterns are designed to confuse and enroll

#79

Post by stanmancan »

kordless wrote: post #69
HashHishBang wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes? That is the entire point of this discussion. That just strikes me as a sign-up for more info. Granted I haven't signed up there so who knows if there are nefarious pre-checked boxes and massive ToS agreements, but signup for access to the site doesn't seem malicious.

I really shouldn't ask leading questions, because they are technically equivalent to blaming statements. What I meant was that "it does NOT matter" whether it's a UX bug or an intentional pattern. The effects can be the same. If a company doesn't have a lot of money to produce a good UX because they spent it all on trips up to Tahoe for a "workcation", and people rely on that software, it's the same damn thing no mat…

Requiring someone to log in to use your site or service is not a dark pattern though. There's nothing nefarious going on there. As another poster said somewhere in this chain, if upon signing up you have to give your life away via the TOS, or there's pre-checked boxes signing you up for mailing lists, those are dark patterns. Simply requiring a user sign up is not.

Re: Dark Patterns are designed to confuse and enroll

#80

Post by CM30 »

If you're in the UK, ordering a pizza from a chain gives you forms with a ton of these patterns. Like the incredibly misleading 'tick the boxes below if you don't want to receive an email/text message with future promotions' thing.

Or the awkward auto coupon set up, which seems like it was designed to minimise the amount of money people were saving through codes. It's as if they realised "hang on, lots of people are using 30-40% off codes" so stuck a cheap 5% off one in my default. The user then has to deliberately remove the auto applied one to get the better offer, which is something many people won't bother to do. Or maybe I'm just overly suspicious, who knows.

Either way, they make the sites rather awkward to use.

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