Live data from Hacker News

Dark Patterns – User Interfaces Designed to Trick People [video]

darkpatterns.org

241–250 of 321 posts

Re: Dark Patterns – User Interfaces Designed to Trick People [video]

#241
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Report them at https://www.spamcop.net/anonsignup.shtml

Please don't. All you're doing is polluting the data at Spamcop and violating their terms anyways. https://www.spamcop.net/fom-serve/cache/125.html Bulk email can be split into two categories: Opt-in and Opt-out. Opt-in is email that an individual requested or agreed to receive. Many legitimate mailers use opt-in methods for marketing. Individuals are responsible for reading and understanding a company's privacy poli…

This practice is clearly not opt-in! There's no button "please spam me with all future newsletters we invent" you have set yourself.

Re: Dark Patterns – User Interfaces Designed to Trick People [video]

#242
post #196
post #27

One pattern that I consider "dark", but don't see in this list, is using loaded options on a dialog box. One that I often see in apps is like: Rate our app! Those really get under my skin because the developer is clearly trying to play a psychological trick on me, but it's so brazen and obvious that it just pisses me off. And bigger companies do it too (e.g. Google).

My favorite one of those was Android 6's "share my location and the wifi ssids of everyone around me with google button" on a Nexus 5. It had a [don't ask me again] checkbox that when set greyed out the option to disagree.

It's a case of bad UI rather than a dark pattern, if you click 'disagree' it always remembers the decision, the checkbox only affects the 'agree' button.

Re: Dark Patterns – User Interfaces Designed to Trick People [video]

#243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those aren't web site design issues, they're truth-in-advertising and business practice issues, which apply to all forms of advertising and business. I'm talking about technical and design issues, like requiring every web site in the EU to pop up a stupid banner while you're trying to read something that blocks the content just to say, "Hey! We use cookies! Got it?" Now imagine taking that to the next level, with pag…

> I'm talking about technical and design issues, like requiring every web site in the EU to pop up a stupid banner while you're trying to read something that blocks the content just to say, "Hey! We use cookies! Got it?" When I worried about the impact of the the EU cookie directive I read it. Surprisingly, it only requires Cookie notifications for web sites that use cookies for purposes that are not strictly necessa…

Thanks for all that info. It's really nice to have both source material and a reasonable summary.

Re: Dark Patterns – User Interfaces Designed to Trick People [video]

#245
post #169

An awful lot of the content on this website shows naivety/lack of understanding of the website, and in a few cases, displays information which is simply untrue.

Think you could be more specific ?

Yep.

http://darkpatterns.org/maxcdn-com-may-2013/ - the $10 arises because the option for including edge servers in Asia is selected

http://darkpatterns.org/british-airways-distract-from-cheape... - I'm pretty skeptical that this had any malicious intent. It is showing the cheapest option in the column. Often the customer will already know which class they want to fly in, so it helps them to be able to skim down a column looking for the cheapest option.

http://darkpatterns.org/papa-johns-iphone-app-november-2011/ - I think this is seriously reaching. Every single pizza chain (both online & in-store) work this way. They do a lot to point you in the direction of their offers page too.

http://darkpatterns.org/directline-com-july-2010/ - Hilarious. If this website had any idea how much negative impact price comparison sites have had on car insurance in the UK, they'd be praising Direct Line for not lowering themselves to the tactics of all the other insurers (offering an incredibly unprofitable first year rate, then massively increasing pricing when you renew)

I'm sure there are more - these are the most clear ones after skimming through about half of the categories.

Re: Dark Patterns – User Interfaces Designed to Trick People [video]

#246
post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Workaround: the iOS10 update requires 1GB of space. The nag only appears if the update has been auto-downloaded. Use "Manage Storage" to delete the 1GB update file for iOS10. THen load enough music/video on your iPhone so there is less than 1GB space. Presto, no more iOS10 download (won't fit) and no more nagging.

My solution was to give the iPad to my kid and get an Android.

Not sure if this was intended but this comment is actually kind of funny considering Android's lack of updates is a frequent point of criticism. Update notifications are probably the one thing you don't have to worry about with Android.

On a more serious note, in my opinion updates are an exemption and the user should be urged to do them.

Re: Dark Patterns – User Interfaces Designed to Trick People [video]

#247

Here is another unsubscribe dark pattern: http://imgur.com/a/lLZAE * Do I check the item if I want to unsubscribe from it? * Or do I uncheck the items I don't wish to receive? 50-50 chance -- which I'm sure they love. Clicking "Update" gives no feedback either, just reloads the page.

To me it looks like the checked ones are the ones to unsubscribe from.

Re: Dark Patterns – User Interfaces Designed to Trick People [video]

#248
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it was only about the security update. But in the case of iOS it is not. It's is the opportunity to start the nagging all over again. Please start using iCloud. Let's use Apple Pay now. Let's use Apple Music. On every single minor "security" update...

Even worse; let's break backwards compatibility with your paid software so that you have to purchase an upgrade license... If you've had a Mac long enough and you run paid software you know what I'm talking about. :(

Considering the wide availability of beta OS updates, I'd say that's on the developers of said software. Sure, as someone who works in audio and has to deal with a range of software instruments/effects and audio interface drivers, I know exactly what you're talking about and I have little understanding for developers expensive software/hardware that don't test and fix their products before OS releases.

Re: Dark Patterns – User Interfaces Designed to Trick People [video]

#249
post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Going forward, you can append "+whatever" to the username portion of your email address, e.g. You+spam@gmail.com, and gmail and most other providers I've used will ignore that part. Use it to trace the sharing of that address. I used that when signing up for a particular mailing list and found that my address was shared with about a dozen other marketers.

People have learned that you can simply strip that part out of the address... it's in the standard. If you want to know where your data leaked out, you should use a different email every time (e.g. use your own domains).

Maybe + as a whitelist rather than a blacklist.

Re: Dark Patterns – User Interfaces Designed to Trick People [video]

#250

Here is another unsubscribe dark pattern: http://imgur.com/a/lLZAE * Do I check the item if I want to unsubscribe from it? * Or do I uncheck the items I don't wish to receive? 50-50 chance -- which I'm sure they love. Clicking "Update" gives no feedback either, just reloads the page.

That was interesting. My reaction was "is this actually a dark pattern, or just designed by a complete idiot?" Because the user trying subscribe and the user trying to UNsubscribe both have a problem in understanding what is going on there. Somebody should get an award for that.
Post reply on HN