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“Opt-in by default” is an oxymoron. If it’s default then I haven’t opted into anything. It’s been enabled by default.
by JimDabell 5mo ago
“Opt-in by default” is an oxymoron. If it’s default then I haven’t opted into anything. It’s been enabled by default.
- deflator 5mo agoVery true. I was considering PostHog, but this sours them in my eyes. Very deceptive wording.
- skrebbel 5mo agoThey could’ve done a lot worse, and most companies would’ve.
- deflator 5mo agoThere's a helpful response. It could always be worse!
- skrebbel 5mo agoOkok what I meant was, too many companies would've hid this in a ToS update, and these guys actively market the change, and the worst crime we can accuse them of is using the wrong word for "enable". I agree that's not perfect, but I can totally imagine that if you use "opt-in" and "opt-out" a bit too much at work, esp as an analytics company deep in cookie law land, that "opted-in be default" sounds like a perfectly normal thing to say, ie I bet this is all not malice, just mild incompetence.
- xnorswap 5mo agoThis frustrates me too, if something is "opt-in", that means by default you're not included and can choose to be included. If something is "opt-out", that means you're included and can choose not to be. But then it gets used to describe the reverse, and we have to add words to clarify. I once saw a post here with a correctly described opt-in telemetry before, and the top comment here was attacking them for the reverse, thinking it was including them by default, so there's little winning, it's one of those words that has just come to mean it's opposite.
- mannanj 5mo agoIsn't it kind of like mandatory tip? If you haven't given it voluntarily, i.e .its automatically opted-in and you maybe can't even not give it. its the same.
- croes 5mo agoOpt-in by default means it is either mandatory (if you can‘t disable it) or it‘s opt-out (if you can) Opt-In by default is BS to make it sound less invasive
- abustamam 5mo agoImagine if they said paying taxes were opt-in by default. No, it's mandatory! Sure you can technically not pay taxes but you won't have a good time.
- _heimdall 5mo agoThat is slightly different though. The government says you must pay taxes, mandatory as you said. PostHog here is saying they will train on your data but opting out is allowed. For the taxes analogy to work, PostHoh would not offer the opt-out option at all and you'd be doing something like hacking their system to filter your data out on their end.
- abustamam 5mo agoMany restaurants have the audacity to add a 20% (or whatever percentage) "service fee" that isn't considered tip. It even says something like "we use this to pay our staff competitive wages and health insurance." You can't opt out. It's just part of the bill. Then they have the gall to ask for a tip on top of that. I've taken to a) leaving a negative Google or yelp review for such establishments and b) never coming back. This is a practice that needs to die.
- rectang 5mo agoDo you leave a negative review if they add the service charge but don't ask for a tip?
- irishcoffee 5mo agoYou were given the option to option in, by default. Clearly it makes sense, optioned out by default only happens when someone loses money on the option in default instead. The internet really stinks. The 1999 teenager in me somewhere is really bummed.
- FeteCommuniste 5mo agoThey are opting you in by default. Very cool.
- bachmeier 5mo agoBut that's not the standard definition of "opt-in". See for instance MW: "to choose to do or be involved in something".
- dolebirchwood 5mo agoYes, we know. It was sarcasm.
- burnte 5mo agoNever miss opting in to newsletters again with NewsAI! NewsAI automatically opts you in to thousands of newsletters and marketing campaigns around the world in an instant!
- thundergolfer 5mo ago“Opt-in by default” is just Opt-out. We already have the term.
- spl757 5mo agoCEOs and the like speak Weasel and only use Weasel Words.