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Request for comments regarding topics to be discussed at Dark Patterns workshop

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Re: Request for comments regarding topics to be discussed at Dark Patterns workshop

#342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

users continued to put things in their cart "so they wouldn't forget them". It was a very frustrating result; this was the exact behavior we were hoping that Lists would eliminate. My wife does this, not just to Etsy, but on all kinds of e-commerce sites. So I apologize on her behalf. I suspect that it's related that she's also one of those people who will never bookmark a web page. Instead, she keeps a hundred tabs…

Don't apologize. It's a pretty common practice. Some e-commerce vendors may not like it, because it disturbs their statistics or marketing shenanigans, but the error here is on their side - they assume that putting something in a cart is an intent to purchase. That assumption is wrong. It's obvious why this happens. The shopping cart, as an e-commerce pattern, is a bookmarking tool . You put stuff there, it stays the…

> stars on GitHub - they're not an expression of appreciation for the project, they're just bookmarks

Project maintainers often don’t think so. I think they should be just bookmarks and not a measure of popularity, better to hide the number of stars. It’d hopefully make some maintainers more humble and helpful. Maybe!

Re: Request for comments regarding topics to be discussed at Dark Patterns workshop

#343
Love the delightful conversation we're having here about dark patterns. I find them personally disgusting and I allocate a specific amount of time on a biweekly basis to have personal retrospectives on what services I am not using/have realized I hate using, so it's great that the FTC is stepping up on this front.

That being said, remember the Cobra effect and that trying to combat one problem can cause an immediately perverse, unintended consequence when you try to solve a problem in this manner. Maybe I'm misusing concepts a bit but in my thinking - perhaps exposing all the immediately obvious "Dark Patterns" as they are perceived now will lead to immediate ingestion of this newly found consumer-originating response set (like this post) which will potentially enable the alleged actors in question who engage in these actions to be even better equipped at creating new, dare I say, darker patterns

Re: Request for comments regarding topics to be discussed at Dark Patterns workshop

#344

Web.com charges 13 months in a year. They bill months in 4 week intervals— so a month = 28 days which = 13 months per year. This is all in their fine print. Screenshot: https://twitter.com/stevebenjamins/status/138531992456700313...

Report it on Regulations.gov! Posting a comment on HN does nothing.

Re: Request for comments regarding topics to be discussed at Dark Patterns workshop

#345
post #310
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit is just as guilty of this. If you want to see all the comments on a thread on their mobile site, you're pushed to install their official app and presumably create an account when doing so. As far as I can tell, the best workaround is to use the desktop site.

I'm so thankful for the Reddit redesign, I had a serious problem spending way too much time on that site. Now it's almost completely unusable.

Same. It's impossible to use on a phone, so I haven't even logged in months.

Re: Request for comments regarding topics to be discussed at Dark Patterns workshop

#346
post #15

TrustArc is a company used by major brands that utilizes dark patterns to FAKE opt-out time for GDRP compliance. Major companies employ lies. It will hold your browser captive for 2 minutes in hopes that you cancel or accept all. If you don't, it shows "We are processing the requested change to your cookie preferences. This may take up to a few minutes to process.". Not even incompetence could make this an honest pro…

Report this on Regulations.gov please! Just saying it on HN does nothing

Re: Request for comments regarding topics to be discussed at Dark Patterns workshop

#347
airbnb issues refunds as credit. when you go to book a place, the default option to pay is "pay half now, half later". the trick is, they don't let you use credit for the 2nd payment. users can only find this by digging through the rules. currently dealing with this as I am just trying to use my credit due to covid cancellations (credits also EXPIRE after a year)

Re: Request for comments regarding topics to be discussed at Dark Patterns workshop

#348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, given that some sites employ hundreds of trackers and other barely-above-malware stuff, it does make sense for these requests to take ages. Unfortunately, many people simply click on the "accept all" button and don't care about their privacy that much. The idea of GDPR was that consumers would be hesitant upon seeing the massive amount of third parties that use your data and demand change from the providers, tu…

But what requests would it even make? If you opt out you're effectively telling it to _not_ make any requests.

If it's the TrustArc Ads Compliance Manager, it makes a call to all the ad networks requesting the network's opt out cookie. The opt out cookie prevents the user from being tracked by that ad network across all sites. Cookie banner opt outs usually only prevent tracking from the site you are one.

Unlike GDPR, which uses a website as the gate for all cookies, the ad industry also has self-regulatory programs. Participation in these programs require that a website allow a user to opt out of all ad networks present on their site. TrustArc built a module to do that: https://preferences-mgr.truste.com/.

If you run the tool there, it will make a call to the ad networks listed. Of course if you're running an ad blocker, the call will get blocked and it will look like the tool doesn't do anything.

Re: Request for comments regarding topics to be discussed at Dark Patterns workshop

#349
post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

users continued to put things in their cart "so they wouldn't forget them". It was a very frustrating result; this was the exact behavior we were hoping that Lists would eliminate. My wife does this, not just to Etsy, but on all kinds of e-commerce sites. So I apologize on her behalf. I suspect that it's related that she's also one of those people who will never bookmark a web page. Instead, she keeps a hundred tabs…

I'm genuinely curious...what does she do when she wants to buy something then? From what you describe, she would have to remove all but what she wants, then re add everything.

I do this too. For most places I use it as a shopping list, and I just keep adding small things until I have enough for a bigger order, or until I get free delivery. Gotta save those bucks.

For places that sell expensive stuff like synths, guitars, tech stuff, I add it so I can see the total amount. Then I sleep on it. Sometimes more than one night. It might get bought along the way, so it's a great deterrent for impulse purchases.

Re: Request for comments regarding topics to be discussed at Dark Patterns workshop

#350
post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does Firefox stop the "impossible unsubscribe" dark pattern that NYTimes uses?

Gmail for instance rolled out a feature for stuff just like this [0]. Firefox also has really great features like containers that keep your web activity isolated from other web applications. [1]. I wish there was more innovation in this space though. [0]: https://www.google.com/amp/s/blog.leavemealone.app/how-does-... [1]: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1201060#answer-1...

You're mixing up two completely different meanings of "unsubscribe". Gmail's unsubscribe feature is to stop you from getting emails from a mailing list. It's powerless against recurring payments.
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