A case for (some) dickovers

John Gruber:dickover n. : a modal panel, popover, or curtain presented by a website or app, deliberately obscuring its own content to frustrate the user with an unwanted, unnecessary, mandatory interaction; e.g. asking the user to accept “cookies”, subscribe to a newsletter, install the website’s mobile app, agree to terms of service, or anything else that the user couldn’t give two shits about.You know it when you see it: a sign-up form, an interstitial ad, a GDPR consent banner. John invents a sharp word that I’m hereby stealing adopting into my idiolect. He poignantly describes the dirty tricks websites use to hit you in your head with stuff you didn’t order. Do yourself a favour and follow the link above.And yet, I think, there’s a distinction there that John glosses over. I think there are two kinds of dickovers. They’re both frustrating but some dickovers are frustrating in a different way. A way I actually appreciate.I’m talking about things like cookie banners and GDPR