Not happy about the recent development around #OrganicMaps
They added kayak, a proprietary booking service, in december 2023. That resulted in #Fdroid tagging the app as using ads.
A debate broke out what qualifies as advertising. Personally earning money via referral-links certainly is very problematic. It basically means, the app makers are no longer neutral in regards to how links are presented in the app, which I consider a dark pattern that I would not want in a navigation / maps app.
A PR was created to add toggles to a) social platforms and b) proprietary Kayak booking service https://github.com/organicmaps/organicmaps/pull/6720
That brought up the question whether such a dark pattern services should be opt-in or opt-out. If people are so happy to use Kayak, why not make that service opt-in and all the happy Kayak users will be able to use their favorite service conveniently.
But maybe there are not so many Kayak users out there and the idea was always to throw the entire OM user base against this dark pattern by default.
Wondering if there was any agreement between #Kayak and OrganicMaps about adding the service. Have not read about that but also from what I read, that question has not been raised.
biodranik, a core OM developer stated: "If you don't like social or any other links displayed, then don't click them. ... Note that there is also always an option to fork OM and customize it for your needs" https://github.com/organicmaps/organicmaps/pull/6720#issuecomment-1914101249
I strongly disagreee with those statements. Users go with defaults. If you want to create an app that respects user privacy and doesn't use dark patters, please don't add referral links. Or add them and make them opt-in. Probalby only a few users would then use such dark patterns. But at least they would have made a conscious descision to opt-in to using Kayak. Also personally I will never visit any instagram or facebook link. If there was an option to hide the links of those surveillance capitalism services, I wouldn't hesitate a second to make use of it.
That PR was however rejected and closed in favor of an inferior solution (see below). Also that issue was locked to prevent further debate. Only later was it unlocked again.
While I understand the core team has an interest to monetize, they are also not shy asking for donations. Adding referral links and dark patterns to an app that claims to be privacy friendly does not go along well.
The side effect of all this is, that OM has not seen an update on #Fdroid for a while now. To resolve that problem https://github.com/organicmaps/organicmaps/pull/7262 was created, removing referral codes from F-Droid build but not from the app in general. Also that PR does not include a toggle to disable either kayak or social platforms from what I can tell, which again is not great and cause of concern.
licaon-kter of F-Droid stated in the new issue: "This is no replacement for #6720 š
That one granted you the option to keep the referral, as you wanted, and users that would want to help OM would be able to renounce on some of their own privacy to be able to do so." https://github.com/organicmaps/organicmaps/pull/7262#issuecomment-1913662305
Couldn't agree more: keeping the feature but making it opt-in would resolve most conflicts. Apparently OM team is not willing to compromise on that solution.
Telling users "go make a fork, OM is OSS" is not a great reply to the questions and concerns brought up in regards to that new dark pattern added to the app.
They say they wouldn't make much off the referral links. Either that is the case, than they could make the feature opt-in. Or they have other plans in which this feature is problematic since they as devs are no longer neutral about the app behavior. Maybe at a later point in time the links off of which they make money will be more prominent. More dark patters are then inevitable over the course of time.
