I was discussing some work on some opt-out we're going to be offering customers so they can either accept or decline certain automated patches to their systems, and I found myself describing the opt-out as "real opt-out", because you can flip the switch to "no" and all that happens is exactly what you want; you stop getting those changes automatically. You can still apply them manually later, or selectively, etc. We don't terminate your service or charge you more or do anything else. You just choose whether you want the convenience along with the bit of risk of changes, or if you want the control and the responsibility.

And I realized I had been subconsciously calling this "real" opt-out precisely because what I encounter in life as "opt-out" does not match that description.. "Real opt-out" is distressingly rare. Almost everything I encounter in real life is the style of ratchet described in this article, to the point where my brain without consulting me decided I needed a new word/phrase for what we were doing.