[Lerc]

Don't sites like Wikipedia and TVTropes count as a control group that challenge the Gruen transfer theory itself.

They do not have any intention to confuse or distract, yet the effect of causing people to linger and browse remains.

In the comments here, Amazon and AliExpress have been pointed to, but again this does not seem to be confusing by intent. There is a degree of deception by some vendors but that exists purely to get people to buy their product.

On the other hand, I have always thought that one of the primary uses of A/B testing, was to abdecate the moral responsibility of decision making. You no longer need to intend to coerce, cheat, deceive, or confuse. A/B testing let's you only intend to make money and all of the malicious descions are taken out of your hands.

[timerol]

The original article does not make this clear, but the concept of a Gruen transfer is distinct from the idea of consciously including them to maximize impulse shopping and retention. Faced with a sea of links to interesting content, I often undergo a Gruen transfer. Is that the intent of TVTropes, or simply emergent?