The field guide
Each pattern has a common name, an italic gloss and a code that never changes. Its glyph shows who does what to whom.
Published · 12 of 12
Sycophancy loopagreement that compoundsBorrowed warmthintimacy without a duty of careReluctant goodbyethe conversation that won’t let goCrowding outcompany that replaces companyAgent-directed dark patterndeception aimed at your softwareSelf-preferencing agenton your side, selling its ownRubber-stamp oversighta yes you were never equipped to refuseConsent creepyes once, yes foreverInvisible handoffpassed along, out of sightDefault driftthe choice nobody madeUnowned decisionshipped, never decidedSynthetic userresearch with nobody in it
Reading the glyphs
Every glyph is a small diagram of who does what to whom. A solid dot is a person; an open square is a system, whether it talks or acts; a smaller square is something a system works on. A line from a person says whose system it is, an arrow that it acts, arcs that it talks. Anything hidden sits below the surface, a long rule. In an observed glyph, the part doing the harm is red; designed out, the same scene is drawn all in ink.