Coercive Design

I'm continually astounded at things that I hear about at the lab. The head of growth at a dating website, who I won't name was a hair away from giving the green-light to an idea that was supposed to increase revenue. It was only going to work if all the other dating sites were on board, and they were, except for the newest one.

This alliance between dating sites wanted to increase their bottom line by making lowercase letters a premium feature (but only for men).

I'M EASY GOING AND I ENJOY LONG WALKS ON THE BEACH AT SUNSET! MY FRIENDS SAY THAT I'M EASY TO GET ALONG WITH! AND I'M LOOKING FOR MRS RIGHT! MY LIFE IS GREAT! I'M JUST LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO SHARE IT WITH!

ALSO, I'M NOT YELLING! I'M JUST NEW TO THIS DATING SITE AND WANT TO SEE HOW IT WORKS BEFORE I JOIN THE GOLD MEMBERSHIP! UNTIL THEN! IT WILL ONLY LET ME USE UPPER CASE LETTERS AND EXCLAMATION MARKS!