Persuasive-tech framework

This scaffold ships persuasive technology — UI affordances that change what users think and do. Per BJ Fogg’s Persuasive Technology (2003), we classify every persuasive feature by its Functional Triad corner before writing code.

Fogg’s Functional Triad

Every persuasive feature is classified by what role the computer plays:

Role	Pattern	Example in this repo
Tool	Extends a user capability	FeedbackFAB reduces the ability cost of filing a bug report
Medium	Presents experience	ErrorBoundary narrates failure to the user
Social actor	Takes on persona / role	ThemeToggle’s aria-pressed implies awareness; the sub-agent loop plans on your behalf

prometeo classifies each type:feat issue by triad corner in its plan output so forja sees the matching ethical risks before writing code.

Persuasive patterns already in this repo

Named in Fogg’s vocabulary so future contributors can reason about them:

• FeedbackFAB — persistent Tool + Suggestion technology + Kairos (right-time intervention — the badge surfaces after errors fire, exactly when motivation to report peaks). The silent diagnostics capture is borderline surveillance — tracked in Epic 12 (privacy toast).
• ErrorBoundary fallback — Social-Actor consolation + Reduction. It speaks (“Something went wrong in this island”) and offers one-click recovery.
• The sub-agent orchestrator — Tunneling technology. Funnels you through issue → branch → PR → merge with the dependency chain pre-computed. Carries ethical concern #4 (asymmetric control: you can stop, but can’t take a path the tunnel doesn’t allow).
• Issue templates — ability-reducers lowering the cost of well-formed contributions.
• ThemeToggle, PWA install prompts — Social-Actor cues with surface credibility implications.

Naming these explicitly is half the discipline. Future features should declare their triad corner in the PR description.

Six unique ethical concerns of persuasive computing

Computers persuade differently from people. The six concerns the 8-item checklist maps to:

1. Novelty masks intent — users haven’t seen this pattern, can’t read motivation
2. Computers borrow undeserved credibility — badges imply more authority than the system has
3. Persistence — software repeats persuasion indefinitely
4. Computers control asymmetric affordances — users opt out only along paths the system allows
5. Emotions are one-way — UI can express, users can’t change the system back
6. Computers cannot shoulder responsibility — only the human who shipped them can

Functional Triad → required-item promotion

prometeo classifies every type:feat issue by Functional Triad corner and that classification promotes optional checklist items to required for the issue:

Triad corner	Optional items auto-promoted to required
Tool (extends capability)	#3 (asymmetric persistence)
Medium (presents experience)	#5 (emotional reciprocity)
Social actor (takes persona / makes claims)	#4 (borrowed credibility), #5 (emotional reciprocity)

References

• Fogg, B.J. (2003). Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do. Morgan Kaufmann.
• European Commission (2022). Digital Services Act, Article 25.
• Full framework → docs/ETHICS.md