How Dark Patterns Trick You Online

Nerdwriter1 explains dark patterns, interface tricks that steer users into choices that benefit the company, such as hard-to-cancel subscriptions and sneaky contact-list grabs. It draws on examples collected at darkpatterns.org, including the LinkedIn contact-list lawsuit.

HN's go-to short introduction to dark patterns, used to put a name on things like easy sign-up and hard opt-out.

“This is a good overview of the idea.”