Dark patterns. If you don't know what they are, you need to quickly catch up on that to save both your money and your mental health.
Let me help.
First, meet Harry Brignull.
Harry Brignull is a UX expert who coined the term "dark pattern" in 2010 and created a website to spread awareness about the phenomenon: darkpatterns.org
Here is the definition he gave of it in an article for The Verge (https://www.theverge.com/2013/8/29/4640308/dark-patterns-inside-the-interfaces-designed-to-trick-you):
"A dark pattern is a user interface carefully crafted to trick users into doing things they might not otherwise do, such as buying insurance with their purchase or signing up for recurring bills. Normally when you think of “bad design,” you think of the creator as being sloppy or lazy — but without ill intent. Dark patterns, on the other hand, are not mistakes. They're carefully crafted with a solid understanding of human psychology, and they do not have the user’s interests in mind."
Dark patterns are a way to deceive by the design of your site or your app, not by lying.
For instance, if you advertise for a digital currency and use terms such as "mining" while your coin is based on a simple SQL database, that's some sort of false advertisement, but that's not a dark pattern. You remember OneCoin, don't you?
So what are the usual dark patterns we meet in the crypto world?
Well, basically the same as everywhere on the Internet, the most common being to have bright and green buttons for choices the designer wants to encourage, and almost invisible uncontrasted grey buttons for unwanted choices. Think about everytime you have been searching for the "unsubscribe" button on a sales email - that's a dark pattern.
You'll find online tons of examples, from "Roach Motels" (tricks to make it super easy to subscribe to something, but almost impossible to unsubscribe to it) to "Privacy Zuckering" (techniques to make you share way more personal data than you initially planned to, or which would normally be required to in order to use a service).
Dark patterns in the crypto world are very similar to the ones you'll find in online gaming. There are two in particular that seem to me the most dangerous, both in terms of money and mental health.
The first one is forced attention.
Here are some examples:
- You are being rewarded for logging in the platform everyday, if you miss a day, you loose something;
- Your are being rewarded for giving your attention to something (watch an ad or play a game to earn some shitcoins);
etc.
As a result, earning/trading cryptos is usually way more time-consuming than it should be, which has an impact on basically everything (your productivity, your mental well-being, etc.).
The second dark pattern is pushing to network marketing.
Becoming an ambassador and sharing affiliate links has become super common, and each and every crypto site/app make it always easier and always more rewarding to do it.
This raises tons of ethical concern. The phenomenon is not limited to cryptos, but advising friends and family on which clothes to buy is something, advising them on where to put their hard-earned money is definitely another level.
I can't help but remind you again of the One Coin scandal. It was networking at its worst, and the scam has spread in communities (churches, large families...) impacting people with actually very weak revenues.
Exactly like in MLM (multilevel marketing), network marketing is ultra toxic as victims tend to stick to the product longer. Indeed, if they drop it, they show all the people they've advised that they were wrong - and it usually mean the first circle, that is friends and family.
In crypto, when you advise someone to invest for instance in a coin, you might be playing with their retirement plan or their kid's college fund. How will you feel when you'll realize it was just another shitcoin? Ouch.
Do you see other very toxic dark patterns in the crypto world? Would love it if you could help me identify more.
