[ryandrake]

> why does it keep asking?

Why does any software keep asking you to do things you explicitly told them you don't want to do? Because it's in the software developer's best interest to get you to do them, not yours. We've gotten way past the point in software where we no longer expect the software to serve the user's interest and solve the user's problems. Now, the expectation is that the user gets nagged and coerced into serving the software's interest and solving the developers' problems.

EDIT: Looks like a developer confirmed this in a sibling comment already: It nags you because that solves their support problem.

[greysonp]

We build Signal for everyone, and that includes a lot of people who are not as technologically literate as the average tech worker. For a lot of people, they don't even know they dismissed the notification permission prompt, they were just closing boxes. For them, the reminder is helpful and prevents them from experiencing missing notifications. Striking a balance between helping these people and annoying more technologically-literate users is very difficult, with compromises everywhere. We're just trying to make sure Signal works for people, nothing more.

[zarzavat]

Ask frequently but add a "don't ask again" option. Then everyone is happy.

[iknowstuff]

Not really. A portion of users will randomly tap that just to get rid of the question. They don’t read.

The easiest way to experience that yourself is to set your device to a language you barely understand. You’ll find yourself dismissing dialogs just like all those illiterate normies.

[some_furry]

Can you add a "tech-savvy user" mode, off-by-default, that opts out of these sort of reminders?

I think we're capable of finding it ourselves if you do.

[ryandrake]

Thanks for the reply. I know it feels noble to do it that way, and I admit I get dogmatic over this one principle: a computer should first and foremost obey the user. It shouldn't have its own agenda. It shouldn't second guess. It shouldn't "did you mean?" I command the computer, and the computer executes that command and then waits for the next command. If I command it to not display a particular output (notifications), then I expect it to never display them, full stop.

I don't see my computers as partners or helpful assistants or eager interns. I see them as tools for reliably performing computation, and I expect them to operate that way.

I fully understand that this means that fewer and fewer developers are "building their software for me" and I find that pretty disappointing.

[shooly]

I'm sure everyone loves it when they accidentally press "Delete", and the app instantly deletes a thing forever without showing any confirmation dialog. After all, if the computer asked you to confirm it, it would mean it disobeyed your direct order!

HN truly never fails to make me laugh when it comes to discussing user experience.

[azinman2]

Have you ever built and distributed communications software? This is a very common problem.

[dwb]

I broadly sympathise, being a nerd myself also, but this just isn’t a way to build software for a general audience.

[alwa]

“Their support problem” is a regular person’s problem getting the software to work how they want. That frustrated them enough to complain about.

I don’t follow how it’s necessarily selfish for the developer to reduce that.

There certainly are selfish ways to reduce support load, like making it harder to ask for help at all. But this way seems like the right way: listen to users’ problems and act to avoid them.

If your remedy causes more pain and frustration than the status quo, you’ll end up with more support load, not less.

Sure it’s greyer when the developer’s trying to sell something, but what does Signal gain from pushing notifications on users?

This seems to be about making the software humane and forgiving—meeting users where they are, not tricking them into something they don’t want.

[krunck]

The Proton Drive app keeps asking me to turn on backups of photos and video. There is no option to say "don't ask again."

I guess they /want/ more storage to be used? Or is there a support issue they are trying to deal with?

[alpaca128]

They probably want to avoid situations where a customer turns off backups, then loses data and makes it the problem of support.

But it would be nice to have a "don't ask again" option regardless, even if it's hidden in settings.

[pigggg]

Yes Google constantly asks me to backup my pictures to their platform No, I don't want this. But regularly when I go to my photos it'll pop up with a box asking and the default option is yes please back up. Sad.

[bryan_w]

You know you can just use a different picture app?

[ryandrake]

"Consent" has become this mystical foreign concept to software developers. If the world of computing was a night club, "Silicon Valley" would be that creepy guy who goes up to everyone asking "Do you want to dance? [YES | Ask Me Later]".

[ethanrutherford]

It's pretty shortsighted, bordering on intentionally obtuse, to insinuate that the only person that benefits from solving the support problem is the person on support.. Take the example of automatic backups others brought up in this thread. Are you really going to imply that there's zero benefit to the person who didn't lose their data because the app reminded them to turn backups on? I don't disagree that it could be improved with a simple "don't ask me again" style setting, but that doesn't change the fact that every time someone doesn't issue a support ticket, it's because they didn't run into an issue. Any effective solution to a support problem is mutually beneficial for the user as well as the support staff.

[Forgeties79]

If a person says “no” to a prompt multiple times then either they aren’t reading it and never will or they definitely know they are not interested and at some point it needs to stop.

At some point it is just not beneficial anymore.