I only care about the helpful notifications, not the promotional ones • Hacker News Board

Re: I only care about the helpful notifications, not the promotional ones

#221

Post by eastbound » Sun, Jun 05, 2022, 8:59 PM UTC

aendruk wrote: post #207

ComputerGuru wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is also my policy - except: Uber just sent me a notification to celebrate pride month with Uber (by booking a car??). I don’t see how to turn off these promotional notifications but I need my Uber notifications so I’m aware when my driver is outside. I’m still not sure if I should block all Uber notifications.

Gig Car Share used to do this. I patiently responded to each incident with a support request politely asking them to stop the abuse. After a few months of 1:1 mapping from spam incident to customer support issue it eventually stopped.

I do the same on the Nespresso site with the “Hey, I’m clippy, do you need help with your order?” covering the “Order” button. I systematically click on it and ask them to order by order. Then they explain how to close the chat, and I click on the next page, the chat opens, I ask them again to go away because I can’t focus while the icon is bouncing in my page.

They don’t answer me anymore.

As in: A corporate employee leaves a chat aside because it’s too annoying.

Re: I only care about the helpful notifications, not the promotional ones

#222

Post by cheriot » Sun, Jun 05, 2022, 9:00 PM UTC

This is doubly bad when the notification is on my watch. Looking at you, Uber.

There's a fair number of apps I'd happily enable useful notifications on, but don't because they send marketing crap.

Re: I only care about the helpful notifications, not the promotional ones

#223

Post by NaturalPhallacy » Sun, Jun 05, 2022, 9:01 PM UTC

grose wrote: post #6

I've noticed this in social networks as well. If you don't get enough transactional notifications for a while they start making up fake ones like Twitter's "in case you missed this Tweet", Facebook's "[someone] posted for the first time in a while", all the while lighting up the notifications badge. Leads to a "boy who cried wolf" scenario in which I stop trusting notifications entirely and just ignore them, possibly…

I have a folder on my phone called "Notification Jail" where all the misbehaving apps get ignored.

Re: I only care about the helpful notifications, not the promotional ones

#224

Post by lolinder » Sun, Jun 05, 2022, 9:04 PM UTC

mynameisvlad wrote: post #171

lrem wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why Android has the system-wide pane for those. No space for (most of) dark patterns. And if someone goes out of their way to "accidentally" mess with that system (oops, this promotion went into the navigation category, silly me), they deserve to go all out silenced.

That’s entirely developer decided. Most are starting to recombine channels to get around the feature.

The parent clearly knows that, hence their second point: "And if someone goes out of their way to "accidentally" mess with that system (oops, this promotion went into the navigation category, silly me), they deserve to go all out silenced."

Re: I only care about the helpful notifications, not the promotional ones

#225

Post by faeriechangling » Sun, Jun 05, 2022, 9:08 PM UTC

xahrepap wrote: post #29

dguo wrote: post #23

My rule is: if I get a single notification that I find useless, I'll immediately disable that notification channel (I'm on Android; I'm not sure if iOS has a concept of channel-specific settings) for that app. Even if the channel can include useful notifications, as the article discusses. If the app doesn't bother to categorize its notifications into channels at all, I turn off its notifications entirely, and I won't…

I follow the same rule. But I will also then go one star review it. I will also one-star review any app that prompts me to review it by first asking me if I like it (sneaky sneaky!)

Lol I do this too. If I see an "are you enjoying our app" banner I will immediately click yes, follow the link to the store, and then immediately 1 star. Even if I enjoy the app and use it daily.

Companies that attempt to filter out negative feedback can pound sand.

Re: I only care about the helpful notifications, not the promotional ones

#226

Post by navjack27 » Sun, Jun 05, 2022, 9:08 PM UTC

It's cool cuz on my Pixel 5 most of my notifications that I want I don't get in a timely fashion and the ones I don't want are just disabled anyway. I just want notifications to work at all.

Re: I only care about the helpful notifications, not the promotional ones

#227

Post by gruez » Sun, Jun 05, 2022, 9:10 PM UTC

innocenat wrote: post #191

gpt5 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been struggling with the Uber app and Uber Eats who has been sending me ads which I found no way to disable. My problem is that I do want notifications for when my driver has arrived.

Uber Eat does different channel for notification though. Mine is set exactly as you described.

It's an option on android but not ios.

Re: I only care about the helpful notifications, not the promotional ones

#228

Post by wincy » Sun, Jun 05, 2022, 9:10 PM UTC

technothrasher wrote: post #11

grose wrote: post #6

I've noticed this in social networks as well. If you don't get enough transactional notifications for a while they start making up fake ones like Twitter's "in case you missed this Tweet", Facebook's "[someone] posted for the first time in a while", all the while lighting up the notifications badge. Leads to a "boy who cried wolf" scenario in which I stop trusting notifications entirely and just ignore them, possibly…

I don't know if Facebook still does this, as I've completely nuked it from my life, but when I had an account I asked it to turn off all email notifications. But if I didn't log on to Facebook after about two weeks I would get an email saying they were concerned I would miss out and so they helpfully turned email notifications back on for me.

I didn’t use Facebook for a few years and they sent me a completely fake account security notification. I was super mad about it.

Re: I only care about the helpful notifications, not the promotional ones

#229

Post by sourabhv » Sun, Jun 05, 2022, 9:11 PM UTC

These companies boast so much about their prowess in AI, but can't differentiate between a transactional and promotional message?

Re: I only care about the helpful notifications, not the promotional ones

#230

Post by criddell » Sun, Jun 05, 2022, 9:11 PM UTC

gpt5 wrote: post #155

throw1230 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One strike and you're out rule works perfectly fine for me. If they think they can abuse my attention with stuff like this, I immediately uninstall and go on with my life.

I've been struggling with the Uber app and Uber Eats who has been sending me ads which I found no way to disable. My problem is that I do want notifications for when my driver has arrived.

I wonder if you could write a Shortcut that, after an Uber ride is booked, notifications are enabled and once the ride ends, they are disabled again?