In many of these cases, the "A/B test" may have been accidental.<p>Running a software rollout is frequently done slowly, datacenter by datacenter, and during that time some people might see one version and others might see another.<p>From the users perspective it looks the same as an A/B test, but the difference is nobody was looking at the results...
I don’t think that in every case it is necessary down to user rejections. I can’t believe that in the netflix case users actually prefer to have to login with two post backs, one for the login, one for the password.
Where is the data on results? I looked at an AirBnB “experiment”, they moved an action button above the fold (duh). But no details on how much more effective the move was.<p>I am all for A/B testing, but the devil is in the details. You can get more users tapping the purchase by moving the purchase button where users are more prone to accidentally tap the purchase button. That doesn’t mean you get more purchases, or that the move was a positive change.