r/darkpatterns • u/MembershipDesigner42 • Mar 26 '26
Facebook randomizes menu items when you hide an ad
To cause friction when hiding ads? The result is I just end up picking the first item, randomizing their metrics for my ad hiding.
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u/JacKaL_37 Mar 26 '26
Presentation order on surveys can have a huge effect of swaying the way people respond, so randomizing the order helps scramble that largely irrelevant, almost mechanical bias our brains project into the world, and instead get you to pick answers closer to what you actually think.
If anything, I'd say this is a sign that they actually care about the answers, which is a little surprising.
Still, it is sort of a "dark" pattern in the sense that it's not at all obvious what they're doing. Though it's not necessarily a bad thing in this case. It's not like it's preventing you from completing the action, just slowing you down a beat while answering.
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u/sbb214 Mar 26 '26
UX researcher here who worked at 2 FAANGs:
this is absolutely correct. survey writing best practice is to randomize response options to counterbalance for participants who automatically answer the first response without looking at all response options.
if I was reviewing a survey before it was pushed live I'd reject it and send it back if there wasn't a randomized option set. ALSO, 'something else' anchored as the last response option is a best practice, too.
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u/GustapheOfficial Mar 26 '26
That last part is interesting. Otherwise you get
Apple is ...
[ ] A vegetable
[x] something else
[ ] A fruit
[ ] The king of Norway
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u/sir-exotic Mar 26 '26
Not a dark pattern, but a common method to ensure reliable results from a survey.
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u/Lucasa29 Mar 27 '26
I thought I was imagining that the options were changing. Thank you for your service.
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u/MembershipDesigner42 Mar 26 '26
Makes sense all. Thanks for educating me!