I happened to click a link that took me to the associated twitter X account for something I was interested in and was greeted by not one, not two, but four modern day web popups.

I know it’s nothing new. I’ve got a couple of firefox plugins that are usually quite good at hiding this sort of nonsense, but I guess they failed me today (or, I shudder to think, there were even more that were blocked, and this is what got through)

What’s the worst new/not-signed-in user experience you’ve encountered recently?

  • mox@lemmy.sdf.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    149
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 month ago

    Please unblock challenges.cloudflare.com to proceed
    (grumble, unblock, reload)

    Verify you are human
    (click)

    …spin…spin…spin…
    Verify you are human
    (click)

    …spin…spin…spin…
    Verify you are human
    (click)

    …spin…spin…spin…
    Verify you are human
    (click)

    …spin…spin…spin…
    Verify you are human
    (click)

    …spin…spin…spin…

      • noodlejetski@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        52
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        1 month ago

        Privacy Pass will generate a number of random nonces that will be used as tokens

        British people making a double take

      • mox@lemmy.sdf.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        Interesting. A quick look at the description makes me think it could help with the inconvenience problem, but probably not with the allowing javascript problem. Still, I’ll have to take a closer look. Thanks for the link.

        Edit: Turns out it requires installing a browser extension. From Cloudflare. No thanks, but I’ll give it another look if the protocol ever gets implemented by browsers.

      • Kallioapina@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 month ago

        Doesnt seem to work for many people (Cloudflare has stopped supporting it?), judging by reading reviews on Mozilla extension store.

    • progandy@feddit.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      … Spin … Spin … Spin …

      … Remember that you turned off your VPN

      … Turn it on

      … CF: OK, only humans use VPN, no need to show the challenge

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 month ago

      You forgot:

      Click all the pictures of buses.
      (clicks)

      …spin…spin…spin…

      Click all the pictures of bicycles.
      (clicks)

      …spin…spin…spin…

      Click all the pictures of traffic lights.
      (clicks)

      …spin…spin…spin…

  • Kairos@lemmy.today
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    113
    ·
    1 month ago

    I have a very hard time believing that these companies are unaware of how auful this shit makes their webpages.

    • helenslunch@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      24
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      They know exactly. Once you create a Twitter account, consent to cookies and link your Google account (AKA give them all your data) you’ll never see these pop-ups again.

      Basically extortion.

      • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 month ago

        If you ever want to read anyone’s tweets somewhat chronologically or see someone’s latest tweet, you’re gonna create an account.

        Tweets as view on people’s profiles are totally scrambled (presumably to thwart LLM-feeding scrapers).

    • xavier666@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      22
      ·
      1 month ago

      Anyone can make a good website. It takes a real engineer to make a horrible website that people will use just enough while suffering.

        • xavier666@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          12
          ·
          1 month ago

          Inspired from the quote “Any idiot can build a bridge that stands, but it takes an engineer to build a bridge that barely stands.”

          Source: Unknown

    • ch00f@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      17
      ·
      1 month ago

      I do a lot of my browsing from an iPhone 11. At least twice a day, a page will crash and reload halfway through whatever article I was trying to read. I get it’s a few generations old, but since when do you need state of the art tech to view what should be a static page.

    • ChicoSuave@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      1 month ago

      It’s diminishing customer experience creep, except the company doesn’t understand what the user data means. They run A/B tests of different layouts, seeing what kind of feedback each gets to learn more about design choices and users. Each version should get its own feedback and then that data is compiled by data scientists into actionable feedback, things that can be done to improve the website in the direction the company thinks is an “improvement”.

      Twitter abandoned those data scientists with the initial layoffs. There is no one to tell them what works and what impacts the customer experience, which is why each time the internal question of “how do we open up for engagement?” they answer it the same way, “Use existing user bases by linking their account to Twitter.” The result is several login requests all looking for the same cookie.

      It’s lazy or inexperienced management. Knowing the type of person Elon hires, it’s probably both.

    • FierySpectre@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 month ago

      I barely see them pop up, if they do it’s for a fraction of a second before a browser extension nukes them.

  • heavy@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    88
    ·
    1 month ago

    I will say that the Google Auth prompt in particular is just this huge nuisance and a horrible experience. People should feel stupid for including it in their web experience.

  • Lad@reddthat.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    78
    ·
    1 month ago

    If this was your webpage 15 years ago, you’d be almost certain that you’d been infected with malware.

    • BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      26
      ·
      1 month ago

      I really really do miss old school internet and feel kinda bad for people who never get to experience it. I know i sound like a cunt, and maybe it’s just nostalgia, but when the internet was bound to a computer and it was mainly “nerds” using it, it was such a better time. I remember a time where the internet was fast enough for pictures and small videos, but having your own picture somehow on the internet was witchcraft to me. Scanner, cameras who are digital whaaat? Now most of the internet is ads and pictures of people who i don’t give a shit about. People’s opinion, picture of people, fuck off bring back the time where the internet was either forums or someone’s weird website, where you only stumbled upon because you typed in a web adress i. The hopes it leads you somewhere.

      I had a girlfriend who was truly fascinated by the fact that i don’t have social media and that i’m not “on the internet” like she didn’t find me and my stupid face anywhere on the web. She was often wondering what i was doing on the internet if i don’t have social media, because that was the internet to her. Facebook, instagram, tiktok and youtube.

      • lorty@lemmy.ml
        cake
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        1 month ago

        Whenever I get to a webpage that looks a decade old (like most recently Ventoy) I get hit with a wave of nostalgia. Yeah, it might not look great or be very responsive to my actions, but my god does it feel great to just get thebinfo you need front and center.

      • SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        She was often wondering what i was doing on the internet if i don’t have social media, because that was the internet to her

        ~ shudders ~

    • Clbull@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      20
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      There was a screenshot I once saw of a Chinese netizen’s web browser in the late-2000’s, using Internet Explorer 6 and tonnes of third-party toolbars. I think I saw it back when Digg was still a thing. We’ve now reached the age where major websites are more cluttered with notifications than a malware-infected browser was 15 years ago, and where everybody is tracking everything that you do online.

      25 years ago, we legitimately drove RealNetworks into the ground for a lot less than what we’re allowing Google, Microsoft, Meta, X, etc to get away in the modern day.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    62
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 month ago

    EU: “You can’t just collect people’s data, you have to ask permission first and give people the opportunity to decline.”

    Site Developers: “Fine, but we’re going to comply in the most malicious manner possible.”

    HEY DO YOU WANT COOKIES ARE YOU SURE PLEASE HIT THE BIG BLUE BUTTON FOR COOKIES THEY ARE HELPFUL AND GOOD PLEASE GIVE COOKIES!!!

    • Katana314@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      32
      ·
      1 month ago

      It’d be fun if the EU started policing any use of the phrase “We are required to show this dialog”.

      They’re not. They choose to show that dialog so that they can try to apply commercial tracking cookies. Anything for website function is already covered by EU laws.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        23
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 month ago

        There have been a couple of changes to the rule since it came into effect. Originally, the pop up could effectively occlude the “Do Not Enable Cookies” button behind a maze of “Optional” settings. The end result was a big colorful “I Consent” button and a tiny little gear button with a thousand manual checkboxes to uncheck every time you visited the site.

        The regulations were updated since. Now these annoying pop-ups at least tend to have a clearly defined “Yes, I Consent” / “No, I Do Not” at equal scale and opposite color, allowing you to bypass it without going into the weeds on a configuration screen.

    • Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      1 month ago

      It’s hilarious on a widescreen setup how many websites aren’t adaptive but that cookie pop-up blocks 3/4 in 5000% font size.

  • hightrix@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    49
    ·
    1 month ago

    That screenshot looks like the old screenshots from the early browser wars with 20 toolbars stacked.

  • flop_leash_973@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    46
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    This kind of thing getting worse and worse at all levels of tech is increasingly pushing me to the fringes of tech solutions (with all of the handicaps that come with that) as those are getting to be the only places where this kind of thing is not pervasive.

    • No apps on phone, if the mobile site doesn’t work it can wait until I am in front of a desktop/laptop
    • No NFC payments as that requires the phone to be blessed by lord Google or father Apple
    • No set top streaming boxes on the TV, just a small Linux powered PC and a cheap Logitech wireless keyboard/trackpad
    • Only Linux OSes on desktop/laptop
    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 month ago

      Yup, I’m in exactly the same boat. I just got a new phone and decided to not install any banking apps whatsoever. I got a check in the mail, and instead of giving in and installing the app, I just drove a mile to an ATM. NBD, and I don’t have to see endless nags about banking features, credit scores, etc.

      I’m not part of your system… MAN!, but actually serious.

      • TopRamenBinLaden@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        I have found that local banks like credit unions, and such, seem to have nicer mobile apps from my experience.

        I have worked as a software engineer for a smaller bank like this, and the development was a lot more honest. These kind of banks normally just want a pleasant user experience for their customers, unlike bigger banks that want to deploy all sorts of dark patterns to collect user data and sell extra stuff to their customers.

    • Troy@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 month ago

      At least you can force desktop mode on most sites. No mobiles apps, desktop mode on phone. Usually.

    • harsh3466@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      30 days ago

      I’m headed in that direction.

      • Minimal apps on my phone, most of them foss apps to access my self hosted services
      • Raspberry pi 4 running osmc connected to our TV. TV itself has no internet connection
      • Want to move to graphene os, but riding this iphone 12 mini until it dies
      • Linux on my server and my primary computer. Have an M1 Mac Mini that my wife primarily uses (too many papercuts for her with asahi linux. We tried and switched back), and iPadOS on the iPad Pro that I have that I’m also riding until it dies.
  • umbraroze@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    45
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 month ago

    Did someone say… cookies?

    I can just tell that whenever Twitter’s user interface has weak attempts at humour, it was put there during the previous ownership, and that just makes me sad.

    Like when you delete your account the final message says “#Goodbye”, I was tearing up, thinking, like, shit, Musk really fucked everything up, did he?

    • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      12
      ·
      1 month ago

      Musk really fucked everything up, did he?

      Other than no longer being able to use an app to access twitter, I haven’t noticed anything else changing for the worse. They even made the “media” tab into grid rather than list which was a welcome update.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 month ago

        How about just the userbase? I’d say that changed for the worse. A lot worse. And if you don’t think so, I hope you enjoy yelling about Jews at your next khakis and tiki torches march.

  • Gsus4@mander.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    35
    ·
    1 month ago

    Anybody know why google has a popup on every major website now? And more importantly, how to get rid of that without creating an account?

  • treadful@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    35
    ·
    1 month ago

    It’s kind of bothersome how almost blind I am to them now. I habitually find a way to close them without having to read or focus my eyes on anything. That’s not to say it isn’t still an annoyance.

    • Nate Cox@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      55
      ·
      1 month ago

      This is so common it has a name, it’s called banner blindness.

      One of the important aspects of interface design is supposed to be not showing alerts for everything, so that when they pop up you feel compelled to pay attention.

      Not long ago a nurse killed an older woman by giving her the wrong medicine; she took accountability but called out that the software they use provides so many alerts that (probably unofficial) policy was to just click through them to get to treating the patient. One of those alerts was a callout that the wrong dosage was selected and she zoomed right by it out of habit.

      • Otter@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        41
        ·
        1 month ago

        Another term I seen in the context of healthcare is alert fatigue:

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alarm_fatigue

        Alarm fatigue or alert fatigue describes how busy workers (in the case of health care, clinicians) become desensitized to safety alerts, and as a result ignore or fail to respond appropriately to such warnings.[1] Alarm fatigue occurs in many fields, including construction[2] and mining[3] (where vehicle back-up alarms sound so frequently that they often become senseless background noise), healthcare[4] (where electronic monitors tracking clinical information such as vital signs and blood glucose sound alarms so frequently, and often for such minor reasons, that they lose the urgency and attention-grabbing power which they are intended to have), and the nuclear power field. Like crying wolf, such false alarms rob the critical alarms of the importance they deserve. Alarm management and policy are critical to prevent alarm fatigue.