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Sneaky Sales and Pricing Practices Online

posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday April 26 2016, @04:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the sourceforge-was-guilty-of-this dept.

GungnirSniper writes:

Sneaky user interfaces, such as unwanted bundleware default checkboxes are now expanding into digital newspaper subscriptions. The Boston Globe's site uses lightly-colored close buttons and increases the price as the user goes through the sales process, as well as includes some newsletter-signup defaults. These dishonest-by-design interface elements that are intended to trick or obfuscate users are called dark patterns.

What are some of the most egregious examples you have seen? Have you even been asked to implement a design you found morally distasteful?

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  • (Score: 2) by SacredSalt on Tuesday April 26 2016, @08:47AM

    by SacredSalt (2772) on Tuesday April 26 2016, @08:47AM (#337386)

    was on a product from Panda software. They make a reasonably decent bootable antivirus, and a fair desktop one. I don' t have many issues with their products, I do have issues that when my mother tried to visit them she couldn't find anything that wasn't a monthly subscription service no matter what trail of links she tried to follow.

    A whole lot of bait and switch there.

    I've noticed the live downloader trend on linux as well. I went through it over printer drivers. One week I could get a copy without it a few weeks later I couldn't without running their installer.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 26 2016, @01:25PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 26 2016, @01:25PM (#337462)

    A lot of printer drivers on Windows require you to run the installer nowadays, particularly HP ones. The HP ones though, they unzip to a Temp folder or a printer-specific folder on the system drive - when the installer is waiting for input, you can copy the temporary folder to capture the exposed driver. You miss out some other things it will install if you do this though (TWAIN drivers, particularly).