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Re:Google backtracks on search results design by allovernow on Saturday January 25, 2020 @05:53AM (#22145776)
It is in a hacker's nature to assume the worst, and often rightly so.

Many of kind of people that come to HN have personally worked on various forms of gamification and rule bending. It's as natural to SV culture as water to fish - indeed some of the biggest companies wouldn't be around without skirting rules and arguably morals.

The stench of MBAs and quarterly profit optimizing execs is all over the valley.

And then the ignorance/apathy of the layman adds an extra layer of plausibility to such accusations.

Re:Google backtracks on search results design by lioeters on Saturday January 25, 2020 @09:53AM (#22146457)
> The stench of MBAs and quarterly profit optimizing execs is all over the valley.

A good explanation for the increasingly normalized dark patterns ruining user experience on the web.

"Conspiratorial"? You bet. Have we not seen huge (and small) companies committed to screwing the public in as many ways as they can? It's not by accident, there's a widespread, condescending disrepect of users and just plain old conspiratorial maliciousness, intent on manipulating users and squeezing more profit.

Google's search results design (backtracked for now) is a clear symptom.