Technically, you’re right but… Maybe the distinction should be #darkpatterns We don’t (yet) have dark patterns meant to steer us into ad clicks and unnecessary spending and content viewing.

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   Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org)'s status on Saturday, 01-Mar-2025 03:56:57 JST Chris Trottier

   Actually, dark patterns do exist on #Mastodon. We don’t recognize them as dark patterns because we’re too politicized to see what’s obvious in plain sight.

   But here’s an example of a #darkpattern on Mastodon: harassers being able to send you abusive messages as “followers only”. This renders the message invisible from public view while being visible to everyone who follows the abuser – followers who are likely to have the same toxic affinity as the abuser.

   Let’s not pretend this is not a dark pattern. It clearly is.
   
   RE: https://mastodon.social/users/harryprayiv/statuses/114082840668402297