Products · Broad category
Download sites
Raised as a usability problem by 18 people on Hacker News over 16 years (2011–2026), in 20 threads.
This is a broad category rather than one product, so its issues aren't ranked on the home page.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads in the last 5 years.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 20 complaints
- Sites hide direct download links, forcing a start-cancel-copy workaround to get the file2026-10-13
- Download sites make users wait through an artificial countdown before the file is available2024-10-19
- Users confused by where downloaded images end up, can't find them afterward2023-08-04
- Takes several seconds to tell real download button from scam ads2023-07-28
- The download button is too mysterious to click without explanation2022-02-14
- Multiple ad buttons look like the real download link, so users click the wrong one2021-02-01
- Couldn't find a download button on an almost empty page because it was hidden by banner blindness2020-02-06
- Fake download buttons near the real link make it hard to know which button is real2019-10-23
- Users click banner ads that look like buttons instead of the real download button2019-01-02
- Fake download buttons and redirects make it hard to tell which link is real2017-11-06
- Ad 'Install' buttons look like the download for the item being viewed2017-09-30
- Non-technical users can't tell which download button is real versus malicious ads2017-02-06
- Fake download buttons pop up and real button blends into background, so users download the wrong file2015-08-19
- Fake download button in ads installs malware instead of the intended software2015-08-10
- Fake download buttons make it hard to spot the real link2015-08-03
- Huge fake download buttons and deceptive ads lead users to malware instead of the real file2014-03-28
- Misleading green ad 'Download Now' buttons get clicked by everyday users by mistake2013-12-02
- Fake DOWNLOAD ads bury the actual download link, making it hard to find2013-01-15
- Clicking download opens a signup prompt instead of the app2012-12-14
- Users mistook explanatory screenshots for real download dialogs and tried clicking them2011-12-08