Re:Writing Less Code
by dTal on Wednesday August 17, 2016 @03:28PM
(#12307615)
This happens so often, on so many different sites, that I can't just chalk it up to unfortunate coincidence. I used to think it was conspiracy-theory territory to call it deliberate, but on reflection - could blind A/B testing in the unthinking pursuit of "click-through rates" and "conversions" actually push developers towards this behaviour, even inadvertently?
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Re:Writing Less Code
by somedangedname on Wednesday August 17, 2016 @07:26PM
(#12309315)
I think it's intentional - just like the placement of display ads next to autoplay videos. People spend time mousing over and 'looking' at the ad as they're hunting for the mute button. Increases interaction metrics and makes the ad slot look more valuable to prospective ad buyers.
EDIT: While we're at it, there's a publishing group that displays all news articles as popovers over the main page. People accidentally click out of the articles and get dumped on the home page, containing expensive "site takeover" advertisements.
Can't remember the name of the company - they have a bunch of US-based local news sites.