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This seems to be a feature that execs wanted, and people find creepy, and no one has the gumption to push back on the exec request.


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Because management decisions ain't always driven by logic.

The simplest reason may be attachment to the feature--the feature is of no use but the person who's invented it is scared by the possibility of removing it.


Because most customers do want this feature. It’s not being “forced,” it’s just a default.

What a nuclear way to bomb your company, wow. I'm dumbstruck how anyone would approve this feature.

Why artificially restrict a feature and then make users beg to get it back? That's quite user-hostile.

Why don't they fire those in charge of selecting 'What's happening' and those who recently implemented 'For You'?

Both are unwanted features.


Totally agree. The last company I worked for would agree to add basically any feature someone requested, even if it was of no use to anyone else. Most of the time spent implementing these odd features was making sure they'd work with all the other possible combinations of odd features, just in case they were ever used in tandem. They never were. The project I worked on was in its 4th total overhaul when I left, and they still hadn't actually sold a single copy.

There's nothing "difficult to grasp" - these are shit decisions and dark patterns.

A feature that's MAYBE useful in a corporate setting to a hand full of people should not be a default defacto setting forced upon EVERYONE.

The issue isn't the feature... it's the default settings that enable invasive features.


A nice example of designing features that nobody wants.

Plus, like, OK, imagine I'm an engineer. "I don't think customers would like this feature. In fact I think it's against their interests." "We appreciate your concern, but we've judged that this feature actually benefits customers, so please implement as specified." Discussion over.

The most effective thing the team behind this feature did to drive adoption was to threaten to remove it. More people know about this feature now than ever would have through traditional marketing tactics.

I hear you, but what is there to do about it? You can't stop people from wanting these kinds of features, and there are huge, real benefits.

The worst kind of feature creep is the kind mandated by your own customers.

And not "we want a menu here" but "we need a transcoding mode that allows us to specify the stream PIDs directly, and if we don't get it, we're not buying".

And when a million dollars is on the line, even if nobody else will use that feature, you can't really refuse.


The kind of jack-ass feature that's been carefully kept by its creator despite a number of people doing exactly what you did and then complaining about it. I've honestly got no idea why.

I feel either you didn't grasp the context of my post or I didn't go far enough in detailing why I felt it's an inappropriate feature for them to push.

If people were that reluctant to switch a feature on, it is not a feature people want.

Mr Clueless X didn't want the feature because he read it off an Ouija board. He wanted it because sales told him "this feature could make us millions of dollars a year!", or a customer asked him "how could you possibly sell your product without this critical feature?".

Without a Mr. Clueless X in the way, it would be presented as your fault that the company lost suchandsuch major deal by not already having the feature. That's a much harder political game to play.


It was the single most requested feature on the bug tracker by quite a bit.

It's not something I want, but apparently there are quite a few people who do.


I get the psychology behind it - it increases impulsive spending - but to tell the users that it's the number one requested feature and then say 'yeah, fuck you'... that's pretty poor.

That's seems to be a strange stance to take. "Everyone" wants to turn on those features, except for you. And you expect them to turn off those features? heh
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