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I'll go on the record that I downvoted because I'm so tired of the constant drone of comments suggesting self-sabotage as a would-be dark pattern. If someone ac

by chc 8y ago

I'll go on the record that I downvoted because I'm so tired of the constant drone of comments suggesting self-sabotage as a would-be dark pattern. If someone actually put a lot of effort into developing the idea, that might be interesting, but I just don't feel like "What if you shoot yourself in the foot for the publicity?" by itself is a substantial comment. It's a fill-in-the-blanks theory so unlinked to any particular phenomenon that it gets applied to everything. For another example, somebody yesterday suggested that Amazon intentionally broke their website on Prime Day for the publicity. I downvoted that too. I do disagree, but more than that, I just don't think they add anything.

mikec3010 8y ago
So you're not disputing that dark patterns are useful and effective, just that you don't like hearing them pointed out?
- chc 8y ago
  I don't know how you could possibly get that from "I'm so tired of the constant drone of comments suggesting self-sabotage as a would-be dark pattern." What I'm saying is that without a lot more development, there's nothing to suggest that this putative dark pattern actually exists. There is no reason to believe that self-sabotage is a beneficial act, but people constantly suggest it as one based on some magical thinking around "publicity." It has more in common with a conspiracy theory than anything else.
  - mikec3010 8y ago
    It's done all the time in the entertainment industry so it wouldn't be surprising to see it leveraged here. And even if its not being employed overtly, another way of interpreting my message is that these companies receive a net positive just by being in the "controversy" whether they intended to or not. I have heard a lot more about the PS4 platform from all the clever hacks people have come up with than I have about the 360 or xbone, and if I were to buy a console it would likely be a PS4.

by chc 8y ago

mikec3010 8y ago

So you're not disputing that dark patterns are useful and effective, just that you don't like hearing them pointed out?

chc 8y ago
I don't know how you could possibly get that from "I'm so tired of the constant drone of comments suggesting self-sabotage as a would-be dark pattern." What I'm saying is that without a lot more development, there's nothing to suggest that this putative dark pattern actually exists. There is no reason to believe that self-sabotage is a beneficial act, but people constantly suggest it as one based on some magical thinking around "publicity." It has more in common with a conspiracy theory than anything else.
- mikec3010 8y ago
  It's done all the time in the entertainment industry so it wouldn't be surprising to see it leveraged here. And even if its not being employed overtly, another way of interpreting my message is that these companies receive a net positive just by being in the "controversy" whether they intended to or not. I have heard a lot more about the PS4 platform from all the clever hacks people have come up with than I have about the 360 or xbone, and if I were to buy a console it would likely be a PS4.