the dark ui of endless subscriptions

 I used to think "everything must be free (as in beer)" was the worse thing to happen to the web - people's (maybe understandable) uptightness about being nickel and dimed to death (remember ten cents per text message?) brought us into an age of endless ads and zero privacy.

But now it's also the age of its ugly cousin -vast forests of subscriptions and scams ( https://pleated-jeans.com/2024/08/01/infuriating-subscriptions-scams/ ). It's some of the worst of "Dark UI" (sometimes literally, like a few cases where it looks like the company makes the text for the unsubscribe page unreadable.)

I mean on some level I get it - even maintenance takes work and energy, and who doesn't dream of being a landlord collecting rent forever - but damn, it really is a hellscape out there.