It&#x27;s a shortening of &quot;dark design patterns&quot;, which in turn is short of saying &quot;outright malicious design patterns&quot;. I&#x27;m not sure who coined the term or when it first appeared, but I find it an apt umbrella under which to describe a whole constellation of tricks and gotchas designed for unsuspecting and usually non-tech-savvy users.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;darkpatterns.org&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;darkpatterns.org&#x2F;</a>