r/assholedesign

Can you post your project here?

Self-promotion or 'I built X' posts are not explicitly mentioned or addressed in the provided rules. The focus is on designs that exploit users intentionally. If a side project or product is presented as an example of 'asshole design', it would need to clearly demonstrate malicious intent in its design and not be a common topic or low-effort submission.

Before you post: Posts must clearly demonstrate aspects of design that are intentionally user-hostile, not merely inconvenient or costly. Avoid common topics or reposts. Satire or lampshading requires specific flair.

The rules, in their words

1. Posts Must Pass Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." Usually, bad things happen not because of bad intentions, but because of bad planning. Asshole designs are specifically engineered to exploit the user for profit. Try to think what the designer would gain from deceiving the user, and if it's likely to be an oversight on their part rather than an intentional design. For common topics that fall under this rule, check our wiki.
2. No, it's Not Literal: "Haha, so it's like an actual asshole in r/AssholeDesign, right?" STOP! Don't post dicks or butts to this sub. You're not being clever. The joke is dead.
3. Design must be underhanded in some way, not just charging money for a product: Businesses sometimes may charge money or deliver ads in order to offer a service, which doesn't necessarily make their business model an asshole design. It must be underhanded in other aspects as well, such as withholding information about how it’s monetized, engaging in dark patterns to upsell the customer, or misleading the customer into receiving something that’s not what was advertised.
4. No low-effort content, make sure your title is relevant and descriptive: Please put some thought into your post and how you present the "asshole design" in it. Also, make sure your title is relevant to the post and descriptive of the design. Make it easy to read, don't make it overly lengthy. This includes things such as posting an election map just to get people mad. If there's a true reason, explain it. Otherwise it'll be deleted.
5. Posts must display aspects of design: If your post doesn't talk about the way something is designed, don't post it here. That means packaging, a utility, an ad that forces something, this is all fine. But if you just don't like it or it's confusing, you'll see it removed.
6. Common topics and reposts might be removed at moderator discretion: To keep the subreddit's content fresh, we remove common topics and designs that have recently been posted by other users. For a list of retired topics that fall under this rule, check our wiki. https://www.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/wiki/common_topics
7. We want asshole designs, not asshole users. Don't be an asshole user.: Comment boards are always filled with disagreements, and sometimes mild insults. When it turns to something more, the parties involved will have their posts removed, and possible other action taken if it persists. We want you to have fun - not argue your point of view against a troll.