Vibe Tax
Vibe tax = FOMO + Outrage + Fake Intimacy + Ambiguity − Receipts + Surcharges. Evidence or it doesn’t count.Some pages don’t sell you; they tilt you. The copy whispers hurry, the UI nudges click, the numbers blur just enough to slide your wallet open. That charge you feel? That’s the vibe tax.
The simple claim
If a page can move you without saying anything checkable, it’s charging a vibe tax—and you can meter it.
What we measure (four levers)
FOMO — countdowns, scarcity, “only 3 left,” gated “insider” drops.
Outrage — tribal bait, doom scroll fuel, “they don’t want you to know.”
Fake Intimacy — parasocial patter, fake DMs, “we’ve been through a lot together.”
Ambiguity — hedged promises, mystery math, “improve experience” toggles with no details.
Each lever runs 0–3.
0 = absent.
1 = mild seasoning.
2 = present on purpose.
3 = weaponized (you feel rushed, angry, special, or confused immediately).
The receipts credit (the only discount we allow)
Receipts — inline sources, signed assets, price math you can re-run, “what changed” notes.
Score it 0–3. Then subtract it from the vibe:
Vibe Tax = (F + O + I + A) − Receipts
If the page asks for money or personal data in the same view, add +1 pressure surcharge. If there’s a live countdown tied to billing, add +2.
Thresholds (act, don’t admire)
0–3: Chill. Read or buy without the hangover.
4–6: Inspect. Slow down. Demand one receipt before acting.
7–9: High. Mute the page; find a source with receipts.
10+: Banish. This isn’t information; it’s a funnel with a costume.
How to run it (60-second harness)
Open the page. Don’t scroll yet. Let it settle for eight seconds.
Score F, O, I, A by what you see and feel, not what you assume is “behind.”
Scan for receipts inside the page: price math, sources, provenance. Score and subtract.
Apply surcharges if they’re asking for card/email right now or running a live clock tied to payment.
Write the final number. Decide accordingly. Move on.
(If two people can’t land within ±10% on the same page in five minutes, your rubric’s mush. Fix the rubric, not the score.)
Examples you’ll recognize (names removed on purpose)
The “free trial” page with a ticking clock and no billing math visible?
FOMO 2 + Ambiguity 3 + Pressure +2 − Receipts 0 = 7. High.
Stop. Find the actual billing rules in the page, or bounce.
The “industry report” with scary charts but no source links?
Outrage 2 + Ambiguity 2 − Receipts 0 = 4. Inspect.
If the chart can’t be traced, it’s theater.
The boring doc page with a plain table and a changelog?
FOMO 0 + Outrage 0 + Intimacy 0 + Ambiguity 1 − Receipts 3 = −2 → 0. Chill.
Boring is a feature. That’s where truth sleeps.
Wrongable claim (our kill switch)
This calculator is false if two independent raters can’t reproduce the same page’s score within ±10% using this rubric in under 5 minutes. If we miss that, we’ll rewrite the rubric and note the failure in our Patch Notes.
What to do with the number (policy, not vibes)
4–6? Demand one inline receipt before you act: price math, source link, or a signed artifact.
7–9? Click away on purpose and search for a doc with receipts. If it doesn’t exist, the idea isn’t ripe.
10+? Add the URL to your egregore ban for seven days. Taste recovers.
Why this works
FOMO, outrage, fake intimacy, and ambiguity bypass deliberation. Receipts restore it. We’re not “debunking the internet”; we’re pricing the manipulation and making that price visible.
Receipt (for this post)
Claim — vibe tax is meterable and reproducible.
Method — 4×(0–3) levers minus receipts, plus targeted surcharges; two-rater reproducibility.
Falsifier — two raters fail ±10% within 5 minutes on the same URL.
Threshold — ±10%.
Result — pending community runs.
Stamp — [today’s date/time]. Hash — vtx-r1. Mirrors — /tools/vibe-tax · /notes/vtx-r1.