Show HN: Nudge – extension that switches addictive sites off by default

nudgeware.io

3 points·louisbarclay··4 comments

Why the proprietary license?? You'll get way more trust and contributions if you use an Open Source license! If you want to limit the ways others might make proprietary derivatives, use AGPL

Hey HN!

I've been working on Nudge as a side project for a while now but have never launched it anywhere, hence the post. Nudge has 6 different interventions to make the internet less addictive:

1. Addictive sites are off by default, and you have to drag a slider to visit

2. 'You've scrolled 20 screens down this page' 3. Colorful rainbow grows in the corner of the page the longer you spend there

4. Hides ads that sites put in to keep you there longer e.g. YouTube Related Videos, Twitter trending

5. Unfollows all your friends, pages and groups on Facebook, effectively deleting your News Feed

6. Makes Facebook grey

Nudge has 2.75k users and a 4.8 star rating on Chrome Web Store. I'd love to hear what you think. The code is visible here: https://github.com/lgwb89/nudge

https://nudgeware.io

Cheers, Louis

I'd rethink the name, it shouts "Nudge theory", the rather unpleasant strand in B. F. Skinner-style behavioural manipulation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudge_theory

Aha, that's an interesting thought. Nudge theory is exactly why I've named the extension Nudge. It's a theory that was designed for good, by Thaler and Sunstein - the idea being to alter default environments so that people find it easier to make better decisions. Classic examples are auto-enrolling people in pension plans, or placing a fly on a urinal so that men aim better. You're right though in that more recently it's sometimes used to describe UX dark patterns, B. F. Skinner-style.

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