On Wed, Sep 2, 2015 at 12:13 PM, Oliver Keyes <okeyes(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
And without any answer to my question about whether this was an actual
A/B test, and whether you're measuring overall user utility rather
than 'did they download it', this is also highly subjective and costly
both in terms of time and emotional resources.
But you're missing...well, two important points. First, as Brandon
says, these debates /have to happen/. Identifying that something is a
*right* thing to do, an *ethical* thing to do, cannot happen after
that thing has been done. And second: costly in terms of time? Costly
in terms of emotional resources? This thread is costly on both, and it
is also an inevitable consequence of not having the discussion in
advance.
Even ignoring the "is it right and ethical" debate, there's a pretty
large
amount of research over the past 6 or so months that show this is a bad
idea. I don't understand why there's even a need for a debate. People hate
interstitials. I know the reasoning is "well, this isn't an interstitial",
but if it walks and quacks like a duck...
Part of good research is using the results of already existing research.
- Ryan