Re:Reddit launches image uploads, ditching alliance with Imgur
by garrettgrimsley on Thursday May 26, 2016 @08:42AM
(#11777449)
>If that isn't a dark pattern, I don't know what is.
It isn't. What you are describing is better describe as malicious advertising, or malvertising.
Re:Reddit launches image uploads, ditching alliance with Imgur
by JamesMcMinn on Thursday May 26, 2016 @08:58AM
(#11777541)
"A Dark Pattern is a user interface that has been carefully crafted to trick users into doing things, such as buying insurance with their purchase or signing up for recurring bills." [1]
Presenting an authentic looking UI dialogue which appears to come from the operating system, and using vibration to further impose the authenticity of a dialogue as having come from the operating system seems very much to be covered under any definition of dark pattern I can find. The aim is to make you click the ad, and they use dark patterns to do that. Simply because the ad content is "malvertising" doesn't mean it's not utilizing dark patterns.
Re:Reddit launches image uploads, ditching alliance with Imgur
by garrettgrimsley on Thursday May 26, 2016 @10:07AM
(#11778042)
I checked out that site before commenting. All of the examples they use are of sites that employ the so-called dark patterns as part of a larger, otherwise legitimate site. So while your ad fits the definition that they offer I believe that, given the examples listed, the label is applied more narrowly. This might just boil down to descriptivism vs prescriptivism.
It only happens when coming from reddit if I open an incognito tab in chrome (chrome opens incognito tabs in the foreground, rather than the background, which saves me a bunch of taps). It never happens if I use normal tabs, which leads me to believe they're only doing it for non-reddit referers or direct links.