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If using dark patterns is more profitable on average than not using them, then firms using dark patterns will outcompete firms that don't, so eventually you'll
by cousin_it 14y ago
If using dark patterns is more profitable on average than not using them, then firms using dark patterns will outcompete firms that don't, so eventually you'll have nowhere else to shop, or at least your options will be significantly reduced. In some market segments that seems to have already happened.
- billybob 14y agoThen again, if customers are annoyed enough by them, firms not using them will steal customers from firms that do. So the free market has a counterbalance. In the real world, this back-and-forth is always happening. I think the average result is that most businesses are mostly honest and most customers are mostly satisfied. Small example: I ordered flowers online for mother's day. The price shown on the front page was doubled by the service fees tacked on at the end. I understand that on a busy day, they need to charge more, but I thought it was slightly dishonest not to show the true cost up front. Slightly, but not an absolute ripoff, and not enough that I'll never buy again. So we have a truce. If they had hidden a checkbox that said "please also subscribe me to this magazine for $X a month", that would be too dishonest and they'd lose my business to someone who didn't do that.