[cantlin]

Interfaces and marketing that use "my" always irk me by, for lack of a better phrase, coming on too strong. I'm all too aware of the human hands that typed out that button label - it seems damned impudent of them to be assuming my voice. It implies a certain intimacy. My cart sounds like an appropriate label for something I've filled, but so long as it's empty trying to foist it off as mine just comes across as a desperate plea for emotional investment.

I think marketeers leveraging "my" tend to envision that we will come to think of their product as like some treasured childhood teddy bear that we hug firmly to our bosoms each night. In life though, when we talk about owning things - my this, my that - it's often in order to identity ourselves with them. For most services, that's a lot to assume. Treading the HN path of avoiding possessive determiners at all may be the wiser path.

[waterlesscloud]

I agree. "My" always comes across as forced and a bit too cute to me.

Having said that, there are situations where those traits may be appropriate. If some kind of intimate or emotional connection is the point of the app, it makes a certain sort of sense.

I also realize my bias against that sort of presumed intimacy may be greater than the average person's.

[gosu]

>it seems damned impudent of them to be assuming my voice

I agree. This is something that has been bothering me every since Windows XP. I think less about what marketers want and how desperate it may or may not be, and I spend more time feeling offended that someone is presuming to intrude into my personal space in my program on my machine and tell me how I plan to use it. It's like they're misrepresenting me to myself, and it never fails to provoke much scoffing and eyerolling from me. I consider it a major signal of BS in software.

On the other hand, software which uses "your" or no pronouns at all can do almost exactly the same stuff - like creating a default organization of data - and I don't mind. I see it as a respectful suggestion which has my best interest in mind, and I'm more likely to actually incorporate their idea into the way I do things because I'm not immediately on the defensive.

Edit:

This reminds me of when I was staying at one of those tropical beach resorts and one of the souvenir sellers was announcing "shopping time, everybody!" to everyone that passed by. I didn't like that he obviously wanted me to participate in a dishonest exchange, but he was presumptuously "reminding" me that giving giving him money is a natural part of my day, the same way that I have an "eating time" and a "sleeping time".

[nwh]

> I think marketeers leveraging "my" tend to envision that we will come to think of their product as like some treasured childhood teddy bear that we hug firmly to our bosoms each night.

I'm not sure if it is as pronounced anywhere else, but my area has a lot of shops that use the prefix in their name.

My Chemist

My Hairdresser

My Bookstore

My House

All places I walk past regularly, and they're all equally as awkward. Same goes for interfaces trying to emulate the same thing.

[trafficlight]

Interesting. I don't think this is a thing at all where I live. Where do you live?

[nwh]

Australia. I suspect it's a localised thing.