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Comment by docdeek | Hacker News Reader

Is urgency really a dark pattern? To me it seems like basic sales and is present on everything from TV infomercials (buy now, limited stocks, only for the next 15 minutes + operators standing by) to brick and mortar sales that only last until the end of the week. Granted, it's a different version of urgency and the other stuff looks shady, but urgency isn't something I'd automatically put in the 'dark pattern' box.

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It is a dark pattern if unsubscribing is more inconvenient than subscribing. If I can get a subscription where you are able to verify my credit card information and my identity with a click of a button. Then I should be able to unsubscribe with the same 1 click. If you hamper me in any way from unsubscribing no matter if it is a speed bump or a road block both are dark patterns.

It is perhaps more useful to consider “fake urgency” as defined here: https://www.deceptive.design/types/fake-urgency

I’ve long felt that “dark pattern” isn’t the right term. It obscures the intent behind purposeful decisions made by real humans, by describing a malicious action as an abstract outcome.

The use of urgency here is absolutely a manipulative pattern designed to influence user behaviour for the benefit of the manipulator.

I wish there was more formalism around the idea of "dark patterns" it strikes me as a term for mechanistic configurations that encourage or elicit specific behaviours yet in practice it's more like intentionally hostile design/ux.

> Is urgency really a dark pattern? To me it seems like basic sales and is present on everything from TV infomercials (buy now, limited stocks, only for the next 15 minutes + operators standing by) to brick and mortar sales that only last until the end of the week.

Those are dark patterns too. In many places such scams are illegal.

It's a bit sad how people have started to just accept the pervasive and fundamental dishonesty and inefficiency of the market.

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