So...I get the reasoning, but yet another in a large string of things where I wouldn't have conflated something with race....until you brought it up, and now I do...I don't know if I should feel guilty at the inherent privilege or if people are just taking it to an extreme, or if it's just language being language.
I hesitate to drift this far off-topic, but I feel it important to point out that within my lifetime (as one approaching retirement age) the word "dark" was the root of a word to describe black people in the U. S., and it wasn't complimentary. Hell, go look up the lyrics for "Old Kentucky Home" that gets sung every year at the Kentucky Derby (though I'm confident the lyrics have changed; or maybe not).
That said, I don't make the association, either. But I'm willing to make the change, if not for basic politeness, then to use words that are more descriptive.
I don't follow your point. "Dark" is obviously a much broader word that can mean many different things. It is less precise than "deceptive" and here it's being used metaphorically while "deceptive" is straightforward and literal (albeit less poetic).
Surely you would agree that someone encountering the term out of context would have a much harder time guessing what "dark patterns" means versus "deceptive patterns"?
> But like I said: the alternative is both more descriptive and avoids the issue
What issue? Dark is used in the sense that the tactics are hidden. As in, you can't see stuff in the dark.
The real issue here is people automatically conflating every usage of the words dark or black with race. Not everybody sees the world through the lens of race. In fact, you'll find the light vs the dark theme was used in cultures all over the world, not stemming from racism but from the fact that you conceal evil deeds in the night when it's dark outside[0].
