Kodsnack 694 - Dark patterns … to rule them all, with Sergès Goma

Fredrik chats to Sergès Goma about dark patterns and her Øredev presentation on them.

We start off by talking about giving presentations and the background to the dark patterns talk. All the great versions of a talk - you never know what's going to happen. Dark patterns and ethics in software development are topics people like to share their experiences of. And it's easy to get caught in the pull between protecting your user and finishing your tickets. We as developers do have a lot of power, but we also have a job to do.

Making (good) ethical decisions business decisions instead can suddenly get them budget and priority. Laws are good at creating such pressures sometimes.

Toward the end, we discuss falling behind in tech, and Sergès gets Fredrik to make some predictions about the AI bubble before wrapping up on a positive note.

Recorded during Øredev 2025.

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Links

• Sergès
• Sergès' presentation
• Dark patterns - also known as deceptive design patterns
• Evil tech - Sergès' previous talk
• Support us on Ko-fi!
• The EU accessibility act
• GDPR
• /r/assholedesign on Reddit
• Confirm shaming
• The big short
• The good place
• The uncanny valley

Titles

• It was everything
• Very future-forward
• They nailed the theme
• Dark patterns … to rule them all
• You judge a talk by its name
• The name is more important
• Why not do a spinoff?
• It was made for questions
• It's never the same talk for me
• I just did whatever I wanted to do
• They're crazier than me
• Be in character
• Evil laugh competition
• (I got to show) My true talent
• If you are for everyone, you are for no-one
• Focus more on the topic
• Spotify's dark pattern
• Do I protect my user?
• The baby koalas are going to die
• The train is already gone
• The train travels in a circle
• The train from hell
• The story of our job
• Better jobs for humans
• This is the bad place
• You actually want humans
• The pain in my existence
• Write my own emails