[gnicholas]

On a related note, the California Bar website employs dark patterns that mislead members into paying inflated annual dues.

When you renew your membership, there are a variety of addon payments you can opt into by checking boxes for these items. Then, on a later page, there are various addon payments that you have to opt out of.

Making things even trickier, these aren't pre-checked boxes, which might lead the user to realize he needs to uncheck them. Instead, there is a list of "adjustments" with a dropdown menu for each. The dropdown defaults to "none", which would lead users to think that they are not paying for an extra item. But when you click on the dropdown, you see the option to "deduct $x" if you don't want to pay the additional fee.

I've never seen a dark pattern like this anywhere else. Perhaps the folks who run the calbar website could spend less time finding ways to trick members into overpaying and more time securing private information.

[calrizien]

I noticed this too while trying to renew my bar dues. Its so devious. It degrades the whole profession when the gatekeeper is obviously trying to scam you.

[gnicholas]

And it's been this way for at least two years. This isn't an innocent fleeting mistake.

[robertlagrant]

It's a sad day when you realise most things are like this.

[kingcharles]

I've seen similar, but it's rare because it is such a dark pattern, and on a more high-profile site that nail would get hammered down pretty quickly.

I was going to joke that you're a lawyer, you should sue them, but they're not doing anything illegal, just very shady.

[gnicholas]

I actually made a screen recording and thought about writing up a blog post. But it seemed like the overlap between [people who care about law/lawyers] and [people who care about dark patterns] was too small to warrant much effort. I considered sending it to Above The Law, and I'm open to other suggestions if anyone has any!

[mistrial9]

I think the theory is that you should try, as you are now by writing that post here.. but make your own efforts and costs very minimal (also as you have done).. maximize the possibility that a random, individual person may find it, who cares (this is a great place for that).. leave breadcrumbs that can lead an interested party to valid actionable information; and lastly, limit exposure to yourself for retaliation if it is that sort of situation..

[gnicholas]

OK, I'm writing something up and will share a draft with ATL, LegalEagle, and anyone else that folks here recommend!

Honestly the biggest blocker for me was that I assume blurring/redacting text from a video would be tricky, but I think YouTube might have a tool that blurs moving objects relatively easily. Or I could just include screenshots...

[dvtrn]

LegalEagle has a way of making even the driest of law topics interesting and accessible. Do you think he’s the right messenger for that kind of content?

[gnicholas]

I'd never heard of LegalEagle, but upon looking him up I see that we graduated from the same law school, one year apart. Perhaps I'll reach out! Thanks for the pointer.