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CODE_OF_ETHICS.md

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Introduction

This living document describes the moral code which guides every script included in the plugin. If you want to update this document please read CONTRIBUTING first.

Internet business models have become antagonistic toward site visitors. The prevailing monetization strategy is to get as many visitors as possible spending as long as possible on a site, to maximize their exposure to advertising channels.

Some netizens respond to this by installing Ad Blockers, which treat the symptom and not the cause. An Addiction Blocker works upstream by removing sites' addictive elements before they can even get their hooks into you.

Code of Ethics

A. Each page should have a single, clear objective.

  1. Leaf pages should not link to other leaf pages unless they are reference material for the current page. Instead, encourage visitors to return to a directory page where they can select a new topic. If your sitemap would look like a fractal pattern, you're probably breaking this rule.

    ❌ Dark-pattern: A New York Times article contains a section at the bottom suggesting trending articles for the visitor to read. The trending articles have no direct relationship to the current article.

    ❌ Dark-pattern: After watching a video on Youtube, similar videos are recommended. These recommendations are made using metadata such as topic, author, or keyword matching and do not constitute a direct relationship with the original video.

    👌 A Wikipedia entry about lightbulbs covers their invention, linking to Thomas Edison's entry.

  2. Comment threads should be a shorter read than the material they're commenting on. Comment threads have incredibly low information density and quickly veer off topic. They will grow boundlessly and overshadow your main content.

    ❌ Dark-pattern: The best rated reply to an entry on Hacker News has 100 sub-replies, which are all shown before the second best rated reply.

    👌 The comments at the bottom of a Kotaku blog post are hidden by default until approved by a moderator.

B. Visitors should make decisions free from social influence.

  1. Do not publish vanity metrics about visitors or content. These may cause visitors to start comparing themselves or engage with content just to see what the fuss is about.

    ❌ Dark-pattern: A karma count is displayed in the site header at the top of every Reddit page.

    ❌ Dark-pattern: Twitter prominently displays a like count and a retweet count on every tweet.

    ❌ Dark-pattern: The Washington Post tells you how many comments are in a thread.