Dark Pattern in cPanel

[incubatec]

Is there a way to disable the Interface Analytics that cPanel forces on all users?

I think the way the "Interface Analytics" is implemented could qualify as a "dark pattern" and such usage would soon be problematic in the EU and/or whenever new legislation is put in place, as that small window keeps popping up again and again. It is like trying to force the user to accept the interface analytics just to get rid of the annoying popup.

While I understand the desire to collect more data by cPanel, I think that in the end this is just annoying for the end-customers and it does not reflect well on the reputation of the provider, so each provider should be able to switch it off.

 

[cPRex]

Hey there! There are two types of analytics that we gather:

-Configuration analytics, which is required
and
-Interface Analytics, which is completely optional.

You can find more details on these here:

cPanel Analytics - The Data We Use | cPanel & WHM Documentation

cPanel Analytics features collect data about interface use and server configuration. The data that we gather may change in the future.

docs.cpanel.net

cPanel Analytics | cPanel & WHM Documentation

cPanel Analytics features collect data about how users use cPanel & WHM's interfaces and how hosting providers configure servers.

docs.cpanel.net

Once you opt out of the interface analytics, it shouldn't ask you about them again.

If you have any specific concerns I'd recommend contacting [email protected]

 

[incubatec]

On every cPanel installation the Interface Analytics is enabled by default. Why is that?

And every time a user logs on the popup shows up; it is this kind of "nagging" that could be considered a dark pattern, as it clearly forcing the user to focus on that Interface Analytics thing with the intent of making the user just accept it so that the pain stops.

 

[cPRex]

We say this in the docs I linked:

"Interface Analytics data collection defaults to enabled for the root account of servers with trial licenses. We collect this data to help us understand how trial licenses are used in our ecosystem. We use the gathered information to improve the WHM interface for new users."

"Individual users can enable or disable Interface Analytics at the account level at any time. Interface Analytics also doesn’t collect data about specific accounts’ use until that user enables data collection at the account level."

Of course we want to get interface data so we can see how to improve the product, but it really should only be asking once for each user. If you see it happening more than that, pleas let us know.

 

[incubatec]

It defaulted to enabled on all of our servers; maybe it was enabled till recently?

Also who is the DPO regarding the data collection? Generally could you point me where the documentation regarding your privacy compliance is to be found?

 

[cPRex]

We have updates about GDPR here: General Data Protection Regulation and cPanel | cPanel Blog

Our full privacy policy can be found here: Privacy Policy

 

[incubatec]

Thank you, you seem to know more about the GDPR than your colleagues from support! One last thing: Do you have DPA, e. g. when granting root access to your support team for servers located within the EU and/or for servers containing data of citizens within the EU?

 

[cPRex]

We do have a DPA setup and you can find that in "Section 1" here: Legal Agreements

That's about halfway down the first section's scroll box.

 

[incubatec]

Thank you, this was what I was looking for - you are again (much!) faster than your colleagues in the support dept.

 

[cPRex]

I try! I will say that the support system isn't designed to be a live chat, and my availability here also depends on how busy things are, but the ticket queue has been much busier than usual the last few days.

 

[incubatec]

I try! I will say that the support system isn't designed to be a live chat, and my availability here also depends on how busy things are, but the ticket queue has been much busier than usual the last few days.

You are doing great! And you listen.

With the problems we as a small company have experienced with the cPanel license locking etc, I guess the ticket queue must be exploding - but that is just my view from the outside. I think that cPanel has lost touch with the hosting community in the recent years. It is not only the licensing server issues, but also the forced design changes with Jupiter, the massive price hikes that your (new) parent will probably try to continue pursuing also in 2022 and beyond, trying to fix things that are not broken, new features nobody asked for, features requested that are ignored for years etc. - just too many things in a short range of time.

 

[cPRex]

I don't have answers for all those things, but I do have thoughts on some areas.

We actually get very few locked licenses - maybe a couple a day? I don't have exact numbers to share, but I would say "less than 10 per day" is a good guess. It's definitely not enough to keep our queue busy.

As far as the features, I'm personally working through the backlog of features along with the development team. While we likely won't get to all of them, because as a certain point they likely aren't going to be relevant if they are ten years old, you'll see that many recent ones have responses from either me or developers, trying to gain insight and get more details on the issue.

While the price bumps aren't avoidable, and no one likes them, that's something that has affected the entire world over the last few years and isn't unique to us. I just want to make it known that I'm *always* here to take feedback, and do report it to the proper teams. There may not always be something visible to end-users but it does get reported and handled internally. The massive feedback thread for Jupiter (In Progress - 102 EDGE Version new whm theme) is a good example of our developers stepping up and making changes directly based on user feedback.

I also feel like there's been a lot of changes in a short time, but when I think about it, that's how it's always been with the hosting industry. If we were still doing things like it was 2007, or even 2016, there wouldn't even be a cPanel Forum for us to be having this discussion because we wouldn't exist.

 

[incubatec]

We actually get very few locked licenses - maybe a couple a day? I don't have exact numbers to share, but I would say "less than 10 per day" is a good guess. It's definitely not enough to keep our queue busy.

That would be up to 10 too much every day. It took "customer service" an extreme amount of time to fix just the issues we have experienced today and some day ago with a server migration (28+ hours of downtime!). I understand that you wish to lock trial licenses and stop any abuse etc, but paid licenses.. cPanel is more than willing to hurt paying customers just to make sure that no abuser is ever able to use a cPanel license for free more than a few hours. Also the amount of time and energy invested into this and the vague wording etc. - it shows the wrong focus.

As far as the features, I'm personally working through the backlog of features along with the development team. While we likely won't get to all of them, because as a certain point they likely aren't going to be relevant if they are ten years old, you'll see that many recent ones have responses from either me or developers, trying to gain insight and get more details on the issue.

yes, I understand that. But take a look at some of the low hanging fruits, things that every sysadmin knows, e. g. the mass deletion of expired SSL certificates is a 2 year feature request that would help everyone save on time and probably quite easy to implement. Maybe get those things done before commiting ressources to cPanel SEO and other new projects.

While the price bumps aren't avoidable, and no one likes them,

while the latter is correct, I am not sure the price bumps aren't avoidable. Your parent loaded up with so much debt (read below) - and I quote Fitch Ratings here:

.. We expect WebPros to reduce its gross leverage to 5.9x in 2021 from 7.1x in 2020 driven primarily by the successful implementation of price adjustments on its products. ..

.. Capex at 0.6-0.7% of revenue 2022-2024; and ...

This is and was entirely avoidable.

that's something that has affected the entire world over the last few years and isn't unique to us.

the main "price adjustments implementation" - as Fitch Ratings put it - took place in 2018 and 2019. That was not driven by COVID, supply-chain issues or war. It was a private equity recapitalization and you know that, heck everybody knows that - your private equity sponsors cashed out as much money as possible. Nobody put a knife on them or forced them to do that - that was entirely deliberate and had nothing to do with inflation or being "unavoidable" in any sense.

I just want to make it known that I'm *always* here to take feedback, and do report it to the proper teams. There may not always be something visible to end-users but it does get reported and handled internally. The massive feedback thread for Jupiter (In Progress - 102 EDGE Version new whm theme) is a good example of our developers stepping up and making changes directly based on user feedback.

don't you think that is a little bit late? But a bad design job is just one thing of a long list - I have mentioned a few, but there were many more like the unnecessary sales tax notice being sent out to half the world, the recent SSL issue etc.

If you raise prices in the radical way your private equity sponsors have forced you to, people expect at least the same level of quality and support, not downtime caused by your licensing server or license locking policy, slow responses etc.

I also feel like there's been a lot of changes in a short time, but when I think about it, that's how it's always been with the hosting industry. If we were still doing things like it was 2007, or even 2016, there wouldn't even be a cPanel Forum for us to be having this discussion because we wouldn't exist.

honestly - having to bear 28+ hours of downtime due to some licensing server error just does not cut in 2022 and would have been hard to swallow in 2007 even.

So I have to respectfully disagree. If cPanel does not get better really fast, I will vote with my feet.

Source: https://www.fitchratings.com/resear...grades-webpros-to-b-outlook-stable-02-12-2021