Ask HN: Why is today's Internet experience so user hostile?

Post by pbronez » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 3:08 PM UTC

layer8 wrote: post #194

antocv wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> hard wait time to unsubscribe It really is the grandmother excuse "you the user dont know what the unsubscribe button is doing, so we ask you to wait 3h and confirm 4 times because maybe you are clicking by mistake since you dont know where and what you are clicking".

No, it’s because it was A/B-tested with the result that the pattern retains more subscribers, which is good for KPI if not for the business.

    Disclose clearly and conspicuously all material terms of the product or service, including how much it costs, deadlines by which the consumer must act to stop further charges, the amount and frequency of such charges, how to cancel, and information about the product or service itself that is needed to stop consumers from being deceived about the characteristics of the product or service. The statement provides detail on what clear and conspicuous means, particularly noting that the information must be provided upfront when the consumer first sees the offer and generally as prominent as the deal offer itself.

    Obtain the consumer’s express informed consent before charging them for a product or services. This includes obtaining the consumer’s acceptance of the negative option feature separately from other portions of the entire transaction, not including information that interferes with, detracts from, contradicts, or otherwise undermines the consumer’s ability to provide their express informed consent.

    Provide easy and simple cancellation to the consumer. Marketers should provide cancellation mechanisms that are at least as easy to use as the method the consumer used to buy the product or service in the first place.

Post by edanm » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 3:10 PM UTC

javajosh wrote: post #246

edanm wrote: post #232

I think we software developers tend to overstate the impact that the inner world of software developement has on this kind of thing. It wouldn't even occur to me that "release often KPIs" has anything to do with it. The reason the web looks like it does today is because it mostly works , for the value of works that the people building the web care about. Most things on the web are there because someone wants to make…

Yours is a solid neo-liberal explanation that ignores one important fact: so much of what's online is not market-driven. It cannot survive in the steady-state on it's own. Much of it is investor funded. It's someone's best guess about what the public will find acceptable. And then, remarkably, these guesses are used by others to triangulate their own guesses, and you get something like a "UX bubble" divorced from eco…

Post by edanm » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 3:17 PM UTC

Clubber wrote: post #249

edanm wrote: post #232

I think we software developers tend to overstate the impact that the inner world of software developement has on this kind of thing. It wouldn't even occur to me that "release often KPIs" has anything to do with it. The reason the web looks like it does today is because it mostly works , for the value of works that the people building the web care about. Most things on the web are there because someone wants to make…

>effective at making money I think you hit the nail on the head. I also want to add that one of the arguments on moving everything to the web (applications I mean) was that the web interface was intuitive and didn't require documentation. That may have been true in many cases in 1999, but it certainly isn't now. That leaves users to click around to try to figure out how to use the web app through trial and error. Not…

Post by antocv » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 3:18 PM UTC

necovek wrote: post #243

antocv wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you have no other choice You always, always have a choice. Throw away the victim and obey mentality. Freedom is taken, not served to you. When someone send you a trojan horse.virus.exe you do not have to open it. Neither do you have to open a convoluted proprietary binary format requiring you to buy a license to read said binary. Politely decline, reject. You have that power.

You are both right and wrong at the same time. You demonstrate it yourself. You say how you've failed informatics classes for failing to pass MS Office test. If that's not "forced", I don't know what is. There are many battles worth fighting when it comes to freedom, and choosing to fail a test to demonstrate freedom is quite admirable. And quite silly. I've done things like that too, and I am fully aware that they c…

Post by noduerme » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 3:19 PM UTC

bryguy32403 wrote: post #277

ninkendo wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We were setting it up and it made her put in her email and phone number to verify. I was appalled; I was like don't put in your email! I'll return it! I’m glad to know I’m not the only one still trying to fight this fight. It’s really starting to be a problem with games. Buying games during the holiday Steam sales used to be a big part of my holiday break, something that was my way of winding down after a long year…

It's even worse with games. If you buy a game on steam, steam has an account api that is completely usable for online play, but the game companies want more data so they force you to make an account with them. I have a stadia account and I've taken to doing the same thing. If i go to play a game and the first thing it wants me to do is create an account, I'm not playing that game, and I'm telling support about it.