Comment by bbm1

Comment by bbm1 12 hours ago

8 replies

View on Hacker News

  I wish to opt out of receiving exclusive promotional offers and updates about products I might be interested in.

  What this means:
  When checked: They will send you marketing emails. Uncheck to stop promotional emails.

  How it tricks you:
  They use 'opt out' and 'wish' to create a double negative - saying no to opting out means saying yes to emails
Fun stuff! But I'm really unclear about this particular checkbox on lesson 9 - in my eyes, wishing is not a negative - so this is a single negative, and you would check it to not receive updates
powersnail 11 hours ago

The worst offender I've seen in this regard was some GUI program on Windows, and it had this checkbox in its installation process with some wording like this:

"Please do not uncheck if you do not wish to not install XXX (bundled bloatware)"

I just assumed that the default state must be installing the bloatware, and changed it, and fortunately I was right.

Reply View 1 reply
  • lukan 10 hours ago

    "I just assumed that the default state must be installing the bloatware, and changed it, and fortunately I was right."

    That's how it is usually and also my way to navigate modern UI.

    "No, I don't want to share all of what I do on my device with you and your 800 partners"

    Reply View 0 replies
FloorEgg 11 hours ago

The double negative is incorrect, but perhaps the negative "opt out" is being a bit obfuscated by the "wish".

It's been common for these types of questions to say something like "I wish to receive exclusive offers..."

So this phrasing is a little bit tricky in that if someone doesn't read it carefully they will think checking the box is saying yes to marketing spam, when in reality it's the opposite.

Reply View 0 replies
technothrasher 11 hours ago

It would seem to me that "I wish to opt out" doesn't make it clear whether you actually opt out or not, simply that it would be your desire. So checking or not checking wouldn't make any difference, as neither way is answering the actual question of opting out.

Reply View 0 replies
[removed] 11 hours ago
[deleted]
Reply View 0 replies
robertlagrant 11 hours ago

Yes, I came here to say that. "Wish" definitely does not create a negative, and ticking the box is the correct thing to do.

Reply View 1 reply
  • probablybayesed 10 hours ago

    I'd say you shouldn't tick it. By ticking it they may grant your wish to opt-out.

    They send emails > you opt-out > wish fulfilled > you're welcome.

    Reply View 0 replies