Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed

Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by pelagicAustral on Thursday May 04, 2023 @10:55AM (#35816355)

No shit! As an anecdote just yesterday I fell for the premium meme on LinkedIn... I could just not stand the idea of not knowing who visited my profile! (how weak of me), they literally charged me 20 bucks (half price) for a month of premium, I bet I will completely forget to cancel the sub next month and I will end up paying 40 dollars for a few more months until I finally decide its been enough... Also, fell for Spotify's 3 months free COME BACK!! meme... oh God... I need rehab

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by taude on Thursday May 04, 2023 @11:00AM (#35816429)

I typically add calendar reminders the moment I find myself signing up for something.

Current reminders: Cancel Peacock by n-Date; Don't renew Tidal by foo; Downgrade YouTube premium on n;

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by chr-s on Thursday May 04, 2023 @11:21AM (#35816827)

I use the "snooze" feature in gmail for this. When I get an email confirming a subscription, I snooze it for 29 days or however long so I get the same email in my inbox before expiration which reminds me to unsubscribe.

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by Damogran6 on Thursday May 04, 2023 @11:05AM (#35816521)

Dear Lord, Youtube.

Annoying Ad plays Saaay, we can make those ads go away, for just a little money.

It's like paying the mob to make sure nothing happens to your store (by the mob)

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by dp-hackernews on Thursday May 04, 2023 @11:30AM (#35816996)

On all Linux PC's I use uBlockOrigin (I never use windows thankfully!) and never see any ads, ever... It may be due to a combination of uBlockOrigin & uMatrix - I've not tested to know. Either way, I just never see ads, ever. I only use NewPipe to watch YouTube on mobile. Then there's the Kodi YouTube add-on - I never see any ads there either...

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by nottorp on Sunday May 07, 2023 @03:38AM (#35848878)

uBlock Origin works fine on Firefox and Chrome on desktops on any OS so it's easy to have an usable YouTube viewing experience there.

Unfortunately that doesn't go for the mobile platforms where it's basically unusable.

I wonder if the rules limiting advertising on TV (in the areas that have rules) shouldn't apply to them as well...

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by Tommstein on Sunday May 07, 2023 @07:11PM (#35856481)

What are you talking about, I use uBlock Origin in Firefox on Android and it works perfectly everywhere including YouTube.

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by taude on Thursday May 04, 2023 @12:25PM (#35817986)

I've used uBlockOrigin in the past for YouTube ads, and it works well on a laptop.

What's nice about Premium, if you use it on an iPad, is it lets you download videos, and let's you also play them in the background, etc. I did this a lot for listening to Sleep casts and such....

I'm at a point, though, where I only want to consume YouTube content from a computer, when I'm trying to solve a problem, and not passively consume it like I was for awhile.

Also, so much of the content I have has "built in" ads, and it's annoying enough that it degrades from the content for me.

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by goosedragons on Thursday May 04, 2023 @01:29PM (#35819088)

What's annoying about premium is a lot of the features are things that were free that they made not be. You USED to be able to play videos in the background on an iPad no problem then they decided that was a paid feature for some reason. Fortunately on Android you can easily do it with Firefox and an extension.

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by justsomehnguy on Thursday May 04, 2023 @11:10AM (#35816617)

Hmm.

I have an idea. Lets make a service what would remind you about the need to cancel subscriptions. A cloud based, AI-driven service would scan your email[*] and messages[*][**] to automatically add reminders based on the purchase receipts. And of course you can always add your own reminders![**]

[*] not available on the free tier, for more options check the current plans at https://dontforgettocancel.com/plans

[**] installation of a companion app is mandatory, refusal would be met with account termination[****]

[***] free tier forever!

[****] https://dontforgettocancel.com retain the rights to your money under any circumstances. It's our money, anyways.

Privacy Policy: to perform the advanced matching your emails, messages, photos sitting on the toilet could be sent to 3rd-party to enhance and enrich your experience.

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by rchaud on Friday May 05, 2023 @09:41AM (#35829072)

As the saga of Unroll.me[0] tells us, services like these will inevitably turn on their customers when they need to squeeze out more money than what they're charging you. Unroll.me may have been free, but as we've seen with modern SaaS, there will always be an upsell around the corner:

https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/17/21027159/unroll-me-email...

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by taude on Tuesday May 09, 2023 @03:43PM (#35879448)

Funny. I remember using unroll.me back in the day.

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by codetrotter on Thursday May 04, 2023 @11:02AM (#35816475)

> I bet I will completely forget to cancel the sub next month and I will end up paying 40 dollars for a few more months until I finally decide its been enough...

Usually if you cancel now you will still get to enjoy the rest of the period you paid for, without having to risk auto renewal. With these kinds of things in general I mean.

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by hutzlibu on Thursday May 04, 2023 @11:26AM (#35816919)

Yes, that's how it usually works, even though all the dark patterns try to imply otherwise. ("Cancel now and loose everything")

It gets even better, you can get even rewarded, if you cancel early.

With midjourney there was a free trial (2 weeks) but only if you subscribed and registered payment.

I did this and then tried to cancel immmediately.

"Oh no, please don't go, we give you 2 more weeks of free trial"

Ok I don't go now and take it.

Got it.

Ok, now I cancel. Worked and still 1 month of free trial.

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by throwaway049 on Thursday May 04, 2023 @11:18AM (#35816774)

Guess they know I'm a miser since they let me have a month of premium free of charge. I don't see much value in knowing who looked at my profile - if they don't follow up with a message then I wasn't the person they were looking for

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by lotsofpulp on Thursday May 04, 2023 @11:00AM (#35816434)

Are any of those dark patterns? They all seem very transparent. Set a reminder to cancel the subscription.

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by parksoha on Thursday May 04, 2023 @11:06AM (#35816536)

If the company is forcing you to put reminders instead of just letting you cancel right away, that's a dark pattern. I do not know about Linkedin, but I've seen plenty doing this, like Amazon.

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by lotsofpulp on Thursday May 04, 2023 @11:09AM (#35816597)

I assume they all let you cancel.

If the subscription is free, and they do not let you keep the benefits if you cancel, then I would still not describe that as a dark pattern.

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by parksoha on Thursday May 04, 2023 @08:59PM (#35824112)

Amazon does not let you cancel and keep it for the month. As soon as you cancel it, your subscription ends.

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by lotsofpulp on Thursday May 04, 2023 @09:57PM (#35824445)

I agree that is a dark pattern.

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by pelagicAustral on Thursday May 04, 2023 @11:05AM (#35816518)

You're probably right... I suppose at the very least I could label them as "predatory". But yeah, still more a personal problem there, duly noted.

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by burnished on Thursday May 04, 2023 @01:30PM (#35819107)

Ease of entry and exit should be roughly equivalent. Another perspective that makes it clearer; any attempt to trick or subvert the will of another is a dark pattern.

Transparency here is a distraction, plenty of tricks still work great even when people can see them coming. Focus on the intent and the result however and it becomes clear.

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by hammyhavoc on Thursday May 04, 2023 @02:45PM (#35820224)

It would make more sense to ask the user if they wish to transition from the trial into a subscription. If they don't, consider giving them an exit survey.

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Re:Companies use dark patterns to keep you subscribed by dclowd9901 on Thursday May 04, 2023 @11:27AM (#35816936)

It used to be that if you worked for LinkedIn, you got a premium subscription for life. That’s how I got mine. Could go that route.

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