Deciding to deliberately make users unhappy, or slow down a service to make another one look good? These would be reprehensible acts.
— Nick Lockwood (@nicklockwood) October 24, 2021
But what about running an experiment to test the effects of those things?
Well, running an experiment on a small sample group isn't so bad. You can turn it off any time, and it will teach you something useful.
— Nick Lockwood (@nicklockwood) October 24, 2021
It's only a handful of users, for a short time, and it's all in the name of science after all!
But what if (surprise!) the experiment shows user engagement is up, and you make more money?
— Nick Lockwood (@nicklockwood) October 24, 2021
Well now that you know it will increase profits, you have a duty to your shareholders to enable it for all users. You'd never have *proposed* it, but you can't unlearn what you now know.