6 ms·

As interesting as the article is, I stopped reading because of the login wall :-( I hate these websites that make you login. What motivates people to write on

As interesting as the article is, I stopped reading because of the login wall :-( I hate these websites that make you login. What motivates people to write on such platforms? Is sun stack like Medium? Do they pay the authors for content? At the least I wish HN had a tag on posts like [$] for pay walled content, and [Ad] for walled by login content so that I don’t waste my attention..

WA 3y ago
You can dismiss the login wall with a single click.
- rifty 3y ago
  Conveniently you can also hit escape to dismiss it.
- abwizz 3y ago
  it's more the fact that i have to that is the problem
d1sxeyes 3y ago
It’s not a wall, more like a gate. You can just click to continue reading. It’s a bit frustrating that it uses a dark pattern to make it seem like you are required to log in, but you can continue reading without logging in or subscribing or anything.
- fastball 3y ago
  I'm not sure this is really "dark pattern" – it's a full screen modal, sure, but it's not like the close button is hidden or anything (and you can close with ESC as others mentioned).
  - abwizz 3y ago
    it interrupts the user doing something desired for something that is not in the users interest.
    - joshuacc 3y ago
      It interrupts, yes, but you’re not in a position to judge what is in every individual’s best interest.
    - fastball 3y ago
      Right, I don't think "interrupting" is a dark pattern intrinsically. YouTube ads interrupt the middle of your video and they're not a "dark pattern".
    - Karunamon 3y ago
      "Annoying" is not synonymous with "dark pattern"
      - d1sxeyes 3y ago
        I agree. But there are a few things which I think make this a dark pattern: the modal pops up after scrolling far enough down that you’re absorbed in the content, the “continue reading” is not styled as a button, and is accompanied by a chevron to the right which implies navigation away from the current content (I want to scroll down, not go right).
    - haswell 3y ago
      It's arguably in the user's interest if you look at the blogger and reader as participants in an ecosystem. The current state of the ecosystem is such that getting someone to subscribe is extremely important for ongoing engagement, and ongoing engagement is often the prerequisite for continued writing. If you're a reader interested in the kind of content the author is writing, and if you want to find more of this kind of content going forward, an easily escapable call to action is in the user's interest. Is it annoying? Also yes. But in a world where everyone runs an ad blocker and social aggregators are fragmenting, it's better than a fully erected paywall, and better than nothing at all.
  - d1sxeyes 3y ago
    It’s not “hidden” but the modal pops up after scrolling far enough down that you’re absorbed in the content, the “continue reading” is not styled as a button, and is accompanied by a chevron to the right which implies navigation away from the current content (I want to scroll down, not go right), which I think pushes it over the edge into dark pattern territory.
- scarface_74 3y ago
  How is it a “dark pattern” when the link is clear “continue reading”?
  - simonw 3y ago
    Because people don't read microcopy, and the designers of that subscribe widget know that. A lot of people, when faced with that box, will miss the "continue reading" button and assume they have to subscribe to finish reading the article.
    - scarface_74 3y ago
      It’s not “micro copy” even on a phone it’s a normal font size and saw it immediately. Is “dark pattern” the new “monopoly” on HN - ie “anything a company does that I don’t like”?
      - simonw 3y ago
        Microcopy doesn't mean small in terms of font size: https://uxwritinghub.com/what-is-microcopy/ https://uxwritinghub.com/what-is-microcopy/ Dark pattern is a well defined term too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_pattern https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_pattern
  - d1sxeyes 3y ago
    I've responded to other similar comments, but there are a few things which I think make this a dark pattern: the modal pops up after scrolling far enough down that you’re absorbed in the content, the “continue reading” is not styled as a button, and is accompanied by a chevron to the right which implies navigation away from the current content (I want to scroll down, not go right). I agree there's a bunch of people who call anything they don't like a 'dark pattern', but I think this crosses the threshold for 'dark pattern' to be a reasonable description.
lelanthran 3y ago
Medium annoys me no end. How hard can it be to have a dark mode?[1] If someone's self hosted blog doesn't have a media query for dark mode, that's fine, but a platform that sells a itself as the authoring platform should make that minimal effort to prove a second colour palette. [1] Maybe this has changed since I last read a medium article.
- moffkalast 3y ago
  > How hard can it be to have a dark mode? So hard that most of the internet doesn't have it. Easier to just use a dark reader extension that inverts colours.
troupo 3y ago
> What motivates people to write on such platforms? Unlike Medium, Substack's purpose is literally to let authors get money for their writing. And you can dismiss that modal by pressing Esc, or by clicking "continue reading".
spyder 3y ago
Same and it pops up only when you are in the middle of reading (on scrolling down) which was so distracting I didn't even continue reading. Probably they know or measured that immediately showing pop up on a page load gets ignored and closed so they sneaked in the middle of reading, together with the small print dismission text they look pretty UX evil.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

WA 3y ago

You can dismiss the login wall with a single click.

rifty 3y ago
Conveniently you can also hit escape to dismiss it.
abwizz 3y ago
it's more the fact that i have to that is the problem

d1sxeyes 3y ago

It’s not a wall, more like a gate. You can just click to continue reading. It’s a bit frustrating that it uses a dark pattern to make it seem like you are required to log in, but you can continue reading without logging in or subscribing or anything.

fastball 3y ago
I'm not sure this is really "dark pattern" – it's a full screen modal, sure, but it's not like the close button is hidden or anything (and you can close with ESC as others mentioned).
- abwizz 3y ago
  it interrupts the user doing something desired for something that is not in the users interest.
  - joshuacc 3y ago
    It interrupts, yes, but you’re not in a position to judge what is in every individual’s best interest.
  - fastball 3y ago
    Right, I don't think "interrupting" is a dark pattern intrinsically. YouTube ads interrupt the middle of your video and they're not a "dark pattern".
  - Karunamon 3y ago
    "Annoying" is not synonymous with "dark pattern"
    - d1sxeyes 3y ago
      I agree. But there are a few things which I think make this a dark pattern: the modal pops up after scrolling far enough down that you’re absorbed in the content, the “continue reading” is not styled as a button, and is accompanied by a chevron to the right which implies navigation away from the current content (I want to scroll down, not go right).
  - haswell 3y ago
    It's arguably in the user's interest if you look at the blogger and reader as participants in an ecosystem. The current state of the ecosystem is such that getting someone to subscribe is extremely important for ongoing engagement, and ongoing engagement is often the prerequisite for continued writing. If you're a reader interested in the kind of content the author is writing, and if you want to find more of this kind of content going forward, an easily escapable call to action is in the user's interest. Is it annoying? Also yes. But in a world where everyone runs an ad blocker and social aggregators are fragmenting, it's better than a fully erected paywall, and better than nothing at all.
- d1sxeyes 3y ago
  It’s not “hidden” but the modal pops up after scrolling far enough down that you’re absorbed in the content, the “continue reading” is not styled as a button, and is accompanied by a chevron to the right which implies navigation away from the current content (I want to scroll down, not go right), which I think pushes it over the edge into dark pattern territory.
scarface_74 3y ago
How is it a “dark pattern” when the link is clear “continue reading”?
- simonw 3y ago
  Because people don't read microcopy, and the designers of that subscribe widget know that. A lot of people, when faced with that box, will miss the "continue reading" button and assume they have to subscribe to finish reading the article.
  - scarface_74 3y ago
    It’s not “micro copy” even on a phone it’s a normal font size and saw it immediately. Is “dark pattern” the new “monopoly” on HN - ie “anything a company does that I don’t like”?
    - simonw 3y ago
      Microcopy doesn't mean small in terms of font size: https://uxwritinghub.com/what-is-microcopy/ https://uxwritinghub.com/what-is-microcopy/ Dark pattern is a well defined term too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_pattern https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_pattern
- d1sxeyes 3y ago
  I've responded to other similar comments, but there are a few things which I think make this a dark pattern: the modal pops up after scrolling far enough down that you’re absorbed in the content, the “continue reading” is not styled as a button, and is accompanied by a chevron to the right which implies navigation away from the current content (I want to scroll down, not go right). I agree there's a bunch of people who call anything they don't like a 'dark pattern', but I think this crosses the threshold for 'dark pattern' to be a reasonable description.

lelanthran 3y ago

Medium annoys me no end. How hard can it be to have a dark mode?[1] If someone's self hosted blog doesn't have a media query for dark mode, that's fine, but a platform that sells a itself as the authoring platform should make that minimal effort to prove a second colour palette. [1] Maybe this has changed since I last read a medium article.

moffkalast 3y ago
> How hard can it be to have a dark mode? So hard that most of the internet doesn't have it. Easier to just use a dark reader extension that inverts colours.

troupo 3y ago

> What motivates people to write on such platforms? Unlike Medium, Substack's purpose is literally to let authors get money for their writing. And you can dismiss that modal by pressing Esc, or by clicking "continue reading".

spyder 3y ago

Same and it pops up only when you are in the middle of reading (on scrolling down) which was so distracting I didn't even continue reading. Probably they know or measured that immediately showing pop up on a page load gets ignored and closed so they sneaked in the middle of reading, together with the small print dismission text they look pretty UX evil.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]