zlacker

They subject all of their dark patterns to multivariate testing. I suspect this is to elicit feedback like yours, and suppress the ability to respond to it, as they have never in years promoted any of it to general availability.

I’ve been in tests where the entire site is gated, demanding I download the app. I’ve been in tests where SFW content is marked as NSFW, demanding I log in. Etc.

>>leland+(OP)
Why do these companies think they can "test" users anyway? Do we look like guinea pigs to them?

>>matheu+PO
They don’t view you as a user... most companies who are ad supported fundamentally view everything as an impression/page load which is simply a container for ad placements. Click through, conversion rates and revenue per thousand impressions are the only metrics that matter to the health of the business.

Everything else is secondary and most product managers don't view a/b tests as anything other than experiments on ways to increase those stats.