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Is it a dark pattern when companies like Dwolla walk you through a multi-step signup procees involving a significant amount of info and an email verification, t
by unclebucknasty 14y ago
Is it a dark pattern when companies like Dwolla walk you through a multi-step signup procees involving a significant amount of info and an email verification, then ask for ultra-sensitive info like SSN only at the very end?
Clearly this is done to prevent some abandonment that would occur upon seeing the SSN on the first step of the process. Their idea is that you are already so invested by the end that you are more likely to give up that sensitive info. But, whether it is technically a "dark pattern" or not, it feels really, really slimy.
- benburton 14y agoFeels a bit like lowballing.
- unclebucknasty 14y agoIt does. And it definitely sends the message that it's all about them: "We don't really care about your trite security concerns. We just want you in our database."
- seanp2k2 14y agoI like the one that Flickr (Yahoo) is now using where you can "log in with Facebook!" only to have it take you to a page where you still must have a Yahoo ID to continue. I took some screenshots of the process: http://imgur.com/a/TPdYb http://imgur.com/a/TPdYb Yahoo ID registration requires your DOB, full name, gender (of which only M/F are options), and postal code. Mobile phone / alt e-mail are the only non-required fields in the screenshots I linked.
- unclebucknasty 14y agoYeah, I guess it's easier to fit "log in with Facebook" on a button than it is to fit "let us hijack your FB feed, then sign in with Yahoo".