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Dark patterns · Everywhere online

False notifications: the red dot that says 1, and the sale behind it.

A bell with a red 1 on it. An “action required” that opens on an upgrade offer. A badge that comes back every time you clear it. The dot borrows the alarm of a real alert to sell you something. Here’s how to tell the two apart, and how to make it stop.

Last reviewed: · The examples on this page are made up

The short version

  • What it is: badges, bells and “action required” alerts that look like something needs your attention, and open on a promotion. Or an alert with no close button, only “buy” and “later”.
  • Why it works: phones trained us to clear red dots. A seller who puts an ad behind one gets the same reflex, for free.
  • How to beat it: open it once. If the “alert” wants money, it’s an ad. Check your domain’s real state in the domain list, then turn marketing notifications off in settings.
  • At Chill Domains: no bell, no badges, no red dots. Your dashboard is a list of your domains, their expiry dates and their settings. If something really needs doing, we email you and say what and why.
A bank of metal letterboxes with rolled-up advertising flyers sticking out of every slot, and a No Junk Mail sticker on one of them
Every box is full, and none of it is a letter. A notification badge can be filled the same way. Photo: cogdogblog, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What does it look like?

registrar.example/dashboardMade-up example
My domainsBilling1Notifications1
Action required: jacksdomain.com.au is unprotected2
Add Domain Shield for $4.95 a month and we’ll watch your name around the clock.
Protect my domainRemind me later3
jacksdomain.com.au · Active · Locked · Renews 14 Mar 2027OK
A made-up dashboard, drawn by us. The add-on and its price are invented.
  1. 1A bell with a red 1, in the spot a real alert would use. The count is the whole trick: it says something is waiting for you.
  2. 2“Action required” and “unprotected” are borrowed from security warnings. The domain is active, locked and paid up. Nothing is wrong with it.
  3. 3There’s no close button. “Later” hides the alert until your next sign-in, when the 1 is back.

Why does it work on us?

A red dot is a promise: a person wants you, or something has gone wrong. Phones taught us that, and taught us to clear the dot before we even know what it’s for. A seller who puts a promotion behind one borrows that reflex without earning it.

The version you can’t clear adds a nag. The only ways to make it go away are to buy, or to learn to ignore the bell altogether, which also hides any real alert that comes later. Either way, the seller gets something out of it.

Three versions of the same trick

  • The ad dressed as an alert. “1 action required”, “Your domain is at risk”, “Setup incomplete”, each opening on something to buy: protection, a website builder, email, or an SSL certificate for a domain with no website.
  • The badge you can’t clear. No dismiss button, or one that only snoozes it. The dot is back on every visit until you buy, or until you give up and stop looking at the bell.
  • The padded count. “Welcome!”, “New: dark mode”, “Rate us”, all counted as notifications so the bell is always lit and you keep coming back to it.

What it looks like in a domain dashboard

You sign in to renew a name and the dashboard is wearing badges: one on Notifications, one on Recommendations, a coloured bar across the top. Open each one and it’s an offer: protection, a builder, an email plan, or “secure your brand” with five more domains.

A real alert in a domain dashboard is rarer and plainer. A domain expires soon. A transfer is waiting for your approval. A contact detail needs confirming. It tells you what’s wrong, what happens if you do nothing, and how to fix it, and the fix is usually free.

Where else will I see it?

Shopping apps that badge their icon for a sale. Social and professional networks whose notifications are mostly “someone you may know” and “you appeared in 9 searches”. Games with a glowing shop button. Streaming services that mark things “new” whether you asked or not. Even some operating systems now put a red dot on Settings until you sign up for an account or a subscription.

How do I tell a real alert from an ad?

  • Open it once and read it to the end. If the fix costs money, it’s an ad.
  • Check the thing it’s warning you about somewhere else: your domain’s expiry date, its lock and its contacts, in the domain list. If they’re fine, the alert isn’t about your domain.
  • Look for the close button. A warning you can only snooze is built to nag.
  • Turn marketing notifications off: in the account’s notification settings, and on your phone in the app’s notification settings, where you can usually leave the account and security kind on.
  • Watch for a count that never reaches zero. If it’s always 1, the 1 is decoration.

What does the law say?

A notification that says action is required when it isn’t, or that your domain is unprotected or at risk when nothing is wrong, can be misleading or deceptive conduct under the Australian Consumer Law, which applies to business customers as well as consumers. From 1 July 2027, the new ban on unfair trading practices also reaches design that unreasonably pressures or manipulates people, for things bought for personal or household use.

The Consumer Policy Research Centre’s 2022 report on dark patterns in Australia lists “redirection and nagging” and “activity notifications” among the patterns it surveyed, and found that 83% of the 2,000 Australians it asked had experienced a negative consequence from a design feature aimed at influencing them.

What does Chill Domains do instead?

At Chill Domains. No bell, no badges, no red dots. Your dashboard is a list of your domains, with each one’s expiry date and settings. When something really needs doing, like a domain about to expire or a setting on your account that just changed, we email you and say what it is and why. Renewal reminders are plain text, 30, 7 and 1 day before a domain expires, and they stop when you renew. There’s nothing to sell from a badge: the checkout has the domain, and renewals are charged at the list price on our pricing page.

Questions people ask

Is a notification badge a dark pattern?
Not by itself. A badge that marks a real event, like a message, a transfer to approve or a domain about to expire, is useful. It becomes a dark pattern when the thing behind it is a promotion, when the count is padded with announcements, or when it can’t be cleared without doing what the seller wants.
How do I get rid of a notification that won’t go away?
Open it, so you know what it is. Then look in the account’s notification settings for marketing or promotional alerts and turn those off. On a phone, the app’s notification settings in the operating system can silence the badge entirely. If a dashboard badge still can’t be cleared, ignore the bell and check your domains in the domain list instead.
Does Chill Domains send notifications?
Email only, and only about your domains and account: renewal reminders 30, 7 and 1 day before expiry, which stop when you renew; the exact-price email before any auto-renew charge; and a notice whenever a sensitive setting changes, like a transfer code being revealed or auto-renew being turned on. There’s no bell or badge in the dashboard, and no promotional notifications.

Sources

General information, not legal or financial advice. We sell domains, so read this as a seller’s view.

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