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0 pointsrenewiltord5y ago0 comments

We respected it in our ad pixel server. DNTs didn't get tracked, just returned 200 blank, no logs generated. It didn't matter, though, in the end. Didn't get us positive/negative attention, users didn't really care, browsers stopped supporting it, and then it was just dead code.

Left the guard clause in, in the end, because of some misguided need to "do the right thing". It's just dead code. I'd just get rid of it now.

Despite online Internet attention, users don't care about this stuff so long as it's wicked fast (response times < 20 ms) and doesn't interfere with the thing they want. They want the thing it enables and they'll happily pay the price.

People online who talk about all this stuff visit whacky sites, get angry at being infected with god knows what from some shit Forbes.com or some crap or some porno site and then flip out at "Google for tracking me" or some crap.

Glad I'm not in that industry anymore. No one outside it knows what it does or enables.

0 comments

m4635y ago

> users don't care about this stuff

we do.

renewiltordOP5y ago

Right, should clarify that I mean "Users do not act in a manner that reveals they care about this". I.e. the majority of users won't use a product that's more compliant with the spec over one that does an extra thing they'd like.

WorldMaker5y ago

Users don't have much choice in which ad streams they see. Publishers had the choice and seemed indifferent, but it feels weird to blame users for turning on a feature and not noticing a difference when that feature didn't work because most publishers failed to act on that feature / make it a requirement of their ad buys.

pseudalopex5y ago

Why is Facebook alarmed about users getting a choice if users are happy to be tracked?

dialtone5y ago

FB isn't really alarmed... The majority of their revenue comes from their own app which they'll continue to be able to target you on because people give data to it willingly. They won't be able to use their partner mobile apps to display ads to, that was a decent business but obviously will become less valuable, but it wasn't that big for them. They are signaling to their customers that things are changing and to expect that they'll change dramatically. FB however remains with your real email address on file and lots of accurate data about you, with their SDK and other mobile apps their accuracy in data collection won't change a whole lot.

renewiltordOP5y ago

Because forced decision making is a barrier to tool use. For instance, imagine if every time you opened your IDE it asked you which language you're going to type in. You like your IDE to be work best with the language you're working in, so that's good. You're adding user choice here, so that's good. But the outcome is bad. Why is that?

danShumway5y ago

This isn't every time you open an app though, it's once, on install.

Imagine if the first time you opened your IDE it asked you what language you're going to type in. That would actually be very reasonable and helpful.

1 more reply

tomc19855y ago

Writing behavior like that is probably the least-charitable interpretation of an instruction to ask the user what they want, and is certainly not within the spirit of that original request.

Ergo that tactic makes whoever uses it a malefactor

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsrenewiltord5y ago0 comments

Left the guard clause in, in the end, because of some misguided need to "do the right thing". It's just dead code. I'd just get rid of it now.

Glad I'm not in that industry anymore. No one outside it knows what it does or enables.

0 comments

m4635y ago

> users don't care about this stuff

we do.

renewiltordOP5y ago

WorldMaker5y ago

pseudalopex5y ago

Why is Facebook alarmed about users getting a choice if users are happy to be tracked?

dialtone5y ago

renewiltordOP5y ago

danShumway5y ago

This isn't every time you open an app though, it's once, on install.

Imagine if the first time you opened your IDE it asked you what language you're going to type in. That would actually be very reasonable and helpful.

1 more reply

tomc19855y ago

Writing behavior like that is probably the least-charitable interpretation of an instruction to ask the user what they want, and is certainly not within the spirit of that original request.

Ergo that tactic makes whoever uses it a malefactor

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse