This reminded me of the time where I read somewhere (I don't have the source, unfortunately) that the fastest way to cancel the NYT(?) subscription online over the chat was to say "I am going to jail."
The New York Times uses the dark patterns it derides
51–60 of 89 posts
Re: The New York Times uses the dark patterns it derides
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed. Obviously it's bad that the NYT is using these dark patterns. But it would be worse if the NYT would just stop to cover dark patterns, because of that. It's a sign of a working separation between the journalistic and business sides.
> It's a sign of a working separation between the journalistic and business sides. How is author not including his own employer in the article a sign of separation.
How is it a sign of lying?
Re: The New York Times uses the dark patterns it derides
#53A newspaper isn't a monolith and, by design, the members of the editorial board have very little connection to the business side of the newspaper. You're absolutely right to call out bad behavior of the subscription department, but the "liar, liar" heading is unfair.
Sorry but no one who has worked at a newspaper for more than a day believes this. If a cub reporter wants to run a story that will piss off your largest advertiser, I can guarantee that it will be discouraged by any editor interested in keeping their job. Been there…
Me too. Guess we had different experiences. Regardless, I can assure you that the NYT Editorial Board holds very little sway over the subscriptions dept.
Re: The New York Times uses the dark patterns it derides
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's a sign of a working separation between the journalistic and business sides. How is author not including his own employer in the article a sign of separation.
How is it a sign of lying?
what else is the explanation for the omission? It just didnt occur to him?
Re: The New York Times uses the dark patterns it derides
#55[deleted]
Re: The New York Times uses the dark patterns it derides
#56I've considered actually subscribing to news media but the behaviour of the NYT and a few known others have left me not to trust the entire industry to behave responsibly with a subscription, so I am at least 1 anecdote of someone not subscribing because of knowledge of the cancellation process
Same with me. In my case, the Economist, who does the same like the New York Times. Subscribing is a click, canceling is a call to a representative who will talk to me about how they "love to discuss a more affordable or flexible subscription option so that you can keep enjoying everything The Economist has to offer" https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/How-do-I-cancel-my...
The economist was my first experience with this tactic, and I promised myself I’d never sign up again, no matter how good a deal they offered.
Re: The New York Times uses the dark patterns it derides
#57Nir here, author of the blog post. Question - Did anyone else notice that the NYT did not accurately describe what the "roach motel" dark pattern is in their original piece? They wrote, "To prevent your information from being shared with third parties, you have to opt out after the payment screen." But that's not the roach motel, that's a default. According to DarkPatterns dot org, a roach motel is when the "...desig…
Is darkpatterns.org a real authority?
Re: The New York Times uses the dark patterns it derides
#58A newspaper isn't a monolith and, by design, the members of the editorial board have very little connection to the business side of the newspaper. You're absolutely right to call out bad behavior of the subscription department, but the "liar, liar" heading is unfair.
No company is a monolith, but the company, as an organization, is responsible for everything that happens inside the org. This is why it’s fair to criticize Amazon when it has poor worker safety issues in its warehouses, instead of needing to know what specific warehouse managers are in charge of those facilities. Or why it’s fair to criticize Apple for increasing their own ad business while cracking down on other companies’, when those are obviously different units.
In the same way, it is very fair to call out hypocrisy in the NYT’s behavior, even if it happens in two different units of the business. They don’t get a pass just because one unit happens to be journalists or something.
Re: The New York Times uses the dark patterns it derides
#59Ironically, there's no "Unsubscribe" link anywhere visible on the author's website for his newsletter.
You have to wait for his weekly mail or add "unsubscribe" to the URL.
Re: The New York Times uses the dark patterns it derides
#60Nir here, author of the blog post. Question - Did anyone else notice that the NYT did not accurately describe what the "roach motel" dark pattern is in their original piece? They wrote, "To prevent your information from being shared with third parties, you have to opt out after the payment screen." But that's not the roach motel, that's a default. According to DarkPatterns dot org, a roach motel is when the "...desig…
Is darkpatterns.org a real authority?
It's written by Henry Brignull who literally wrote the book on dark patterns, acts as an expert witness on dark patterns and I'm pretty sure originally coined the term "roach motel" (in this context) so.... yes?