Thread by @ErrataRob

I contribute $5 to all the presidential campaigns. One thing I look for is "dark patterns" whereby they attempt to trick people out of money. An example is this from the Hickenlooper campaign that'll accidentally make one-time donations monthly instead.

For the other Democrats, that box defaults to "one time only" with monthly being an option. For Hickenlooper, that box defaults to "monthly". This is a conscious choice by his campaign, and should inform your choice as to which candidate deserves your support.

BTW, I prefer pro-business moderates like Hickenlooper, so I'm not trying to subtly influence you to support my candidate here. Instead, I'm discussing candidates in general. Such "dark patterns" need to be recognized for the evil that they are.

For Jay Islee, here's the screenshot for his campaign, as you can see, with the other button the default. Note that all Democrats are using ActBlue for donations, so that's why the screenshots are otherwise the same.

I'd run out of money on my previous $50 Visa Gift Card, so I had to go to the store and buy another one to donate to the campaigns at the bottom of the Democrat list, like Bennet, Hickenlooper, Islee, etc.
morningconsult.com/2020-democrati…

I can't imagine candidates really care about $1 donations -- what they really care about is getting your private contact information and exploiting that, to spam you endlessly in the future. That's why I donate, to get on their "chump" list for further exploitation.

So my donation to the DCCC (Democrat Congressional Caucus) also defaulted to monthly. When I declined, it popped up this plee after the donation. Among the questions I have is *WHO* will triple match the donation???????
??????

There's so much text in these things trying to get money out of you that makes no sense when you think it through.

The RNCC donation page has this nice "dark pattern", with the only option being "yes" to double the amount (ie. donate a second time), with no real "no" option.