Patterns

Urgency & Scarcity

Countdown Reset

The timer reaches zero, takes a small bow, and starts again.

Toxicity

Confirmshaming

No thanks, I hate saving money.

Toxicity

Roach Motel

Easy to enter. Curiously ceremonial to leave.

Toxicity

Decoy Pricing

One plan exists mostly to make another plan look reasonable.

Toxicity

Hidden Cancellation

Cancellation exists, in the same sense that a secret door exists.

Toxicity

Forced Continuity

The free trial ends quietly; the invoice speaks clearly.

Toxicity

Privacy Manipulation

Privacy Zuckering

Sharing more than intended, with excellent onboarding confetti.

Toxicity

Social Proof Inflation

Everyone is buying this. Everyone, apparently, has a busy afternoon.

Toxicity

Visual Hierarchy Manipulation

The preferred button is a cathedral; the alternative is a footnote.

Toxicity

Privacy Manipulation

Cookie Labyrinth

Accept is one button. Refuse is a regional governance exercise.

Toxicity

Infinite Scroll

A bottomless page, now with plausible deniability.

Toxicity

Mobile Addiction

Notification Addiction

A red dot, the smallest possible emergency.

Toxicity

Default Bias

The default is not neutral. It is a decision wearing a cardigan.

Toxicity

Preselected Options

The box was checked before you arrived. Hospitality, perhaps.

Toxicity

Drip Pricing

The price starts polite and becomes honest only at the end.

Toxicity

Sneak Into Basket

A small extra arrives in the basket with admirable confidence.

Toxicity

Bait and Switch

The button promised one thing. The next screen has other ambitions.

Toxicity

Disguised Ads

An ad wearing the local costume of content.

Toxicity

Nagging

The same request returns until refusal starts to feel like labor.

Toxicity

Trick Questions

A checkbox grammar exam with billing consequences.

Toxicity

Misdirection

Attention is escorted away from the part that costs money.

Toxicity

Comparison Prevention

Three plans, six units, and no way to compare like with like.

Toxicity

Fake Discount

A sale price with a very creative memory of the original.

Toxicity

Fake Activity

Someone in Bristol just bought this exact anxiety.

Toxicity

Friend Spam

Your address book becomes a growth strategy.

Toxicity

Privacy Manipulation

Permission Priming

The app asks nicely before the operating system asks seriously.

Toxicity

Forced Registration

The content is visible right up until it becomes bait.

Toxicity

Autoplay Trap

The next video starts before intention can get its shoes on.

Toxicity

Gamification Abuse

Streak Pressure

A habit tracker becomes a small hostage situation.

Toxicity

Paywall Tease

The answer is always one paragraph below the subscription wall.

Toxicity

Anchored Bundling

The bundle looks like a bargain because the standalone prices were arranged to salute it.

Toxicity

Review Gating

Happy users go public. Unhappy users go to a private form with excellent acoustics.

Toxicity

Gamification Abuse

Loyalty Lock-in

Points that feel like money until you try to leave.

Toxicity

Urgency & Scarcity

Scarcity Ladder

First it is popular. Then limited. Then almost gone. A small opera in three badges.

Toxicity

AI Authority Washing

The interface says AI recommended it, and hopes that sounds like evidence.

Toxicity

Negative Option Billing

Silence is interpreted as a legally billable yes.

Toxicity

Survey-to-Sales Funnel

It starts as a quiz and ends as a checkout with diagnostic confidence.

Toxicity

Visual Obstruction

The important control exists behind a sticky bar, modal, or conveniently placed enthusiasm.

Toxicity

Like-gating

Double-tap to reveal. Now tap again. And again.

Toxicity

Gamification Abuse

Validation Loop

A like arrives. Then another. Then one from three hours ago. Dopamine, dripped.

Toxicity

Reaction Pressure

1 like = 1 prayer. 1 share = 1 tree. The math is emotional, not financial.

Toxicity

Hard-to-Close

The close button exists. Technically. At 7 pixels. In low contrast.

Toxicity

Live Activity Indicator

A green dot. A number. A pulse. Someone, somewhere, is watching. Maybe.

Toxicity

Social Cross-Sell

Other customers bought this. And this. And this. (Allegedly.)

Toxicity

Frequently Bought Together

Amazon made it famous. Everyone else made it preselected.

Toxicity