4 ms·

Because there are shades of gray

• Bakary 6y ago
  There's a spectrum of gray in the effect and scale of the manipulation, but deciding to manipulate the user or not is a binary choice.
  • SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
    Is it? It's comforting to think so, but I'm not convinced there's a meaningful dichotomy that can be drawn. I add a "save this card" functionality to my store so users don't have to type it in every time they buy something: am I offering a neat convenience feature, or am I manipulating them by reducing the psychological barrier of a sale?
    • Bakary 6y ago
      >Is it? It's comforting to think so, but I'm not convinced there's a meaningful dichotomy that can be drawn. I rework my store's checkout workflow, making it simpler so users only have to click a couple buttons to buy a product: am I making their lives easier, or am I manipulating them by reducing the psychological barrier of a sale? "making their lives easier" implies that the purchase is the default outcome that the user needs to improve their lives, when the purchase could simply not be made at all. As long as the intention is to make more money, and that the effort expended does not improve the nature of what is purchased in some way, I'd say it technically qualifies even if the consequences are the lightest of grays. That said, your example is thoughtful, and you are probably right overall. We could look at the broader context of all these systems encouraging consumption, but that would be moving the goalposts on my part. edit: just to clarify an edit took place while I was replying