(1/6) Was recently contacted by someone who mentioned the trending feature has changed the way they use Pixelfed.
(2/6) They find themselves constantly checking like counts and trying to get on the discover trending page by engaging in like-for-like behaviour that is prevalent on other platforms like Instagram.
(3/6) When I designed the Trending feature, I did not consider the implications of ranking content by like counts.
(4/6) I've observed that most trending posts on pixelfed.social belong to a small group of accounts with many followers, making it harder for other users to appear on trending.
(5/6) Pixelfed cannot be a better and ethical alternative if it ignores the gamification and FOMO dark patterns found on popular platforms.
(6/6) We will fix this. #pixelfed
@dansup good call!
Though the ethical alternatives are competing for time and attention with the non-ethical ones.
Deceptive patterns then give the non-ethical alternatives the "higher ground", forcing the ethical alternatives to fight an uphill battle.
One way to circumvent that, is to not fight the fight. To position your ethical alt. as something that can be used besides, or on-top-of the non-ethical alt. Instead of being antagonistic to this alt. In language and features.
Just my $0.02.
