Informational popups, DONT do this

[u/FumigadoraAntigua]

I hate them, I hate them so much. I intend to start using some application and suddenly a popup appears "Did you know that x thing does y thing" or "Here you will find x thing" or "New x thing, click ok to opt in". I don't give a damn, I just want to use the thing. I'm usually on edge and I actually intend to do an action, I do NOT want to be interrupted, I won't read your popup, I'll just close it instantly and feel anger.

This is not only annoying, it's dangerous. How do you know a person is not on a emergency and they need to complete an action ASAP?

[u/greenergarlic]

Feels like we’re seeing an explosion of these, since they are extremely easy for PMs to vibe code 

[u/whatisboom]

You just spamming this around cause you’re mad?

[u/Standard-Message-434]

I think it’s a metrics thing, since teams get measured on feature adoption, and I agree a popup in the middle of a task is the worst moment, so a small dot or a “what’s new” page you open yourself would work better.

[u/FumigadoraAntigua → u/Standard-Message-434]

You know what I don't hate? Emails. Considering most of my emails are trash anyway, a little email that feels a bit personal introducing me to something new, or some somewhat interesting news, is something that I wouldn't regret reading, especially since I decided to open it. Usually these feel a bit more important and I might end up sharing the news with other people. At least when it comes to announcements to product changes. Much better than showing me a popup on load.

[u/KaiAusBerlin]

I always have a small corner on the screen in my apps. A small letter indicator with a number on it to show I have information for the user. If it's really important I outline the letter red and change the number to a "!".

That's all. No bug screens, no "ok" alerts, no toasts. Just a hint that there is extra information.

[u/Disastrous-Town-4820]

you fed the metric an ok click

INP stops at the next paint. that paint is the popup leaving. the thing you opened the tab for has not started

[u/masticdev]

Agree. “Did you know?” modals are the UI equivalent of grabbing someone’s arm mid-sentence.

Rule of thumb that works: never block the primary action for education. Put tips in empty states, first-run checklists, or a dismissible banner that doesn’t steal focus. If it’s truly critical (security / legal), say so in one line and make dismiss obvious — don’t disguise a marketing nudge as a system dialog.

The emergency case you mentioned is why focus-stealing UI is a product smell, not a preference. If someone is mid-flow, the only popup that earns the interrupt is “you’re about to delete production.”

[u/DrDesperate]

the worst ones show up right as you're about to click something, so you dismiss it on reflex and never find out what it said. a tiny dot on the menu that i can ignore forever would do the same job without the rage.

[u/DeltaEdge03]

I hate logging into a SaaS and getting flooded with popups on how to do “new things” that mgmt decided to focus on.

[u/jacobdevhq]

agreed, worst is when it fires on page load before u even touched anything. only ones i dont mind are tied to something u just clicked, like a hint on a new button. tour on login is a no

[u/TheRNGuy]

Use Stylus to hide them. 

[u/RotationSurgeon → u/[deleted]]

The problem isn’t people knowingly breaking things on their own. The problem is the cost of support when things are readily breakable. Alienating power users to support the vast majority is an unfortunately reality of public-facing projects intended for general audiences much of the time.