A few choice words on confirm-shaming

"No thanks, I like to make bad choices"

Sorry, what?

This screenshot shows one of many egregious examples of confirm-shaming I've seen online.

Don't want the PDF guide? The only way to decline is to declare you're a bad person.

Confirm-shaming uses words that make the user feel guilty for not taking the desired action.

• Don't want to enter your email for a coupon? "Nah, I'd rather pay full price"
• Not interested in that clothing subscription box? "No thanks, I don't want to look my best"
• Don't want food tips delivered to your inbox? "Nope, I don't eat healthy food"

Confirm-shaming is a deceptive pattern, or dark pattern, a term for questionable design practices that manipulate users into doing things they didn't intend to do.

There's an entire Tumblr site dedicated to confirm-shaming:

confirmshaming

when a site asks you to sign up for their thing and then the ‘no thank you’ link is some hot…

Tumblr

And experts like Harry Brignull have created websites to expose deceptive interfaces and educate the public:

Deceptive Patterns (aka Dark Patterns) - spreading awareness since 2010

The original website about deceptive patterns (also known as “dark patterns”) - tricks used in websites and apps that make you do things that you didn’t mean to, like buying or signing up for something.

Deceptive Patterns logo (aka 'Dark Patterns')

Every time you…

• can't find the 'X' to close an obnoxious pop-up
• need to jump through hoops to unsubscribe from a service you no longer need
• spot a confusing double negative when choosing communication preferences on a social media app
• are prompted to add more items to your cart to get a discount at checkout

…chances are you're being deliberately misled.

Some patterns are easy to spot, while others are more subtle and potentially more dangerous.

So how can designers recognize and avoid them?

The European Data Protection Board has published guidelines on assessing deceptive social media interfaces that infringe GDPR requirements.

Guidelines 03/2022 on deceptive design patterns in social media platform interfaces: how to recognise and avoid them | European Data Protection Board

European Data Protection Board

Even if you don't work in the EU, it's a great resource to learn about ethical design principles and the types of deceptive patterns that exist.

Read more from me

I'm Elisa, an Italian content designer with a background in localization and customer service. This is where I document my life in UX and writing.

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