This is not a happy topic but want people to know significant changes. Newspaper obits are no longer a destination to find a relative or friends. Most digital newspaper sites no longer have local deaths. The obits are hosted by 3rd party. Example (legacy.com and tributes.com). These sites defaults are designed to lure you into subscription. Using their search is designed to deceive the user. (ie. default search is within last week and name box include keyword where you would place a name.) One local paper no longer allows search by name. You must search by Funeral Home. Another dodge is location search. You have to know the city.
Now if you enter a funeral home name you are opening a 3rd party website. https://www.dignitymemorial.com/ This site is OK but your search will search the country. There are many similar
names and dates.
Can these practices be considered dark patterns though? It seems more like the increasingly popular freemium model, where limited services are offered for free with the option to purchase expanded capabilities. I’m comfortable calling it a sales tactic, I’m not sure if it’s a dark pattern by definition.
Accepted this as a sales tactic until recent change to dignity.com The recent dignity site is a problem. Dignity appears to be a national site. When you enter (example) funeralhome.com you are switched to dignity. Sometimes the address bar sometimes shows funeralhome.com and other times shows dignityfuneralhome.com. You easily think you are still on a local funeral home when you are on the a third party national site. This is just one example of many shady practices by many genealogy sites. Privacy laws have changed. But no where can I find the new laws. Hear “privacy” used often with no specific laws shared. Maybe this would be better labeled “Privacy?” 2022