A recent
New York Times op-ed, titled “Stopping the Manipulation Machines,” derided the use of dark patterns: design tricks that push people to do things online by confusing or deliberately inconveniencing them.
Liar, liar, paper on fire.
Kudos to the writer, Greg Bensinger, a member of the
Times’ editorial board, who does a laudable job calling out obnoxious dark patterns.
His first target is the Amazon Prime unsubscribe process, which he calls “a labyrinthine process that requires multiple screens and clicks.”
Bensinger claims Amazon deters customers from canceling Prime with a confusing series of steps involving many more screens and clicks than the effortless sign-up process that got them paying $119 per year when they signed up.