commit: dd93ee72132a900e791ed5cc85e2e7f9a92d8400
parent eb0318b3116bd3e835a04af819789aed0275c727
Author: Drew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com>
Date: Sat, 8 May 2021 17:16:42 -0400
Unlikable software
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diff --git a/content/blog/Try-not-to-make-unlikable-software.md b/content/blog/Try-not-to-make-unlikable-software.md
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+---
+title: I try not to make unlikable software (and features)
+date: 2021-05-08
+---
+
+I am writing to you from The Sky. On my flight today, I noticed an example of
+"unlikable" software — something I've been increasingly aware of recently
+— inspiring me to pull out my laptop and write. On this plane, there are
+displays in the back of each seat which provides entertainment for the person
+seated one row back. Newer planes no longer include these, given that in
+$CURRENTYEAR everyone would just prefer some power for their phone or laptop.
+Nevertheless, you can still end up a plane with this design. You can shut the
+thing off by repeatedly pressing the "☀️ -" button, though that button is rated
+for half the cycles it will have already received by the time you press it.
+
+When the flight safety video is playing, or an announcement is being made,
+however, the system will override your brightness preference. This is a fairly
+reasonable design choice, added in the name of passenger safety. What's less
+reasonable is that the same feature is re-purposed for shoving advertising into your
+face a few minutes later. In fact, it spends more time on ads than on safety. A
+software engineer sat down and deliberately wrote a "feature" (or anti-feature?)
+which they had to have known that the user would not have wanted. The airplane
+manufacturer demanded it at the *expense* of the user.[^1]
+
+[^1]: A savy reader could (correctly) extrapolate this to infer my position on advertising in general.
+
+I have had many opportunities throughout my career to make similar
+anti-features, and I have encountered many other examples of this behavior in
+the wild. Many programmers have implemented something which measurably *worsens*
+the experience for the user in order to obtain some perceived benefit for the
+company they work for. [Dark patterns][0] provides many additional examples, but
+this kind of thing is *everywhere*.
+
+[0]: https://www.darkpatterns.org
+
+I find this behavior to be incredibly disrespectful to the user. When I am that
+user who is being disrespected, I will generally stop using that software, and
+stop supporting any businesses who chose to be disrespectful.[^2] For my part as
+a programmer, I *do* respect the user, I find satisfaction in making software
+which makes their lives better, and I always have and always will push back
+against anyone who demands that I subvert that ethos for their wallet's sake.
+You should always aim to make the user's experience more pleasant, not more
+unpleasant. We should just be nice to people. That's it: please be nice to
+people. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.
+
+[^2]: Though, to be entirely fair, it is somewhat difficult to "stop using" the mandatory ad viewing session I am being subjected to on this airplane. I could put in earplugs and gouge out my eyes, perhaps. Yes, that seems like a proportionate response.
