Dear Mozilla, please stop spamming • Hacker News Board

Re: Dear Mozilla, please stop spamming

#51

Post by hombre_fatal » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 3:10 AM UTC

damnyou wrote: post #40

aphextron wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I don't really see a problem with any of these? You seriously don't have an issue with being fingerprinted and tracked every single time you open an application on your computer? The point is that there should be zero. I should not have a single outgoing network request triggered by opening a web browser to a blank page until interacting in some way. The fact that we've lost this as a standard is terrifying to me.

Firefox, like most mass market software, is designed for normal people.

Yeah, portal checking and update checking are surely things 99% of people appreciate.

Captive portal popup seems like an obvious UX improvement for 99% of people. I wonder how many people on HN even know how to trigger it if the browser didn't try to do it for you.

Update checking and over the air updates make obvious sense to me given that my mother and girlfriend will click "Remind me tomorrow" for years on the macOS update popup, and there's nothing user-friendly about making it so easy for users use old browser versions.

The rare user can turn both off if they want, so what's the big deal?

Re: Dear Mozilla, please stop spamming

#52

Post by bscphil » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 3:10 AM UTC

thinkloop wrote: post #37

alyandon wrote: post #3

In a similar vein, I'd appreciate it if Mozilla would stop using updates to Firefox as a mechanism to re-enable misfeatures I've explicitly disabled like Pocket integration and the "recommend X feature|extension while you are browsing but don't forget we totally respect your privacy!" settings. :-/

How much money does pocket actually generate? It blows my mind that mozilla would pull a java and have us install a figurative toolbar.

My understanding is that they are using the Pocket organization as a way of managing the ads they now show by default on the new tab page. They call this "recommended by pocket". I don't know if it currently makes any money, but showing ads on every new tab opened in their browser certainly has the potential to.

Re: Dear Mozilla, please stop spamming

#53

Post by baby » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 3:13 AM UTC

thinkloop wrote: post #37

alyandon wrote: post #3

In a similar vein, I'd appreciate it if Mozilla would stop using updates to Firefox as a mechanism to re-enable misfeatures I've explicitly disabled like Pocket integration and the "recommend X feature|extension while you are browsing but don't forget we totally respect your privacy!" settings. :-/

How much money does pocket actually generate? It blows my mind that mozilla would pull a java and have us install a figurative toolbar.

pocket is such a useful tool that I have a hard time understanding this comment.

Re: Dear Mozilla, please stop spamming

#54

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 3:13 AM UTC

justinclift wrote: post #43

vesche wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole point of Firefox _is_ to make network requests. All of the features above aren't leaking your user data or fingerprinting you, they're assisting you in what the applications purpose is... to make network requests. Not to mention firefox is an open-source project, so you could go look at all the network communication it makes when it starts up. All of these options are configurable anyways. I think you're lo…

> The whole point of Firefox _is_ to make network requests. Just to point out, that "the whole point of Firefox" is to make the network requests I want . eg from my perspective it's a tool like (say) cURL that has a specific purpose. It's a subtle difference, but an important one. :)

[deleted]

Re: Dear Mozilla, please stop spamming

#55

Post by kylek » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 3:23 AM UTC

Lowkeyloki wrote: post #6

aphextron wrote: post #2

Mozilla is ethically compromised at the highest levels. They’ve made a shift over the last few years from a scrappy, low-rent, nonprofit dedicated to helping the web to just another data mining tech company. Just try setting your Firefox browser to a blank page with no requests on startup and watching the Wireshark log if you think otherwise.

What browser would you suggest instead? I feel a bit cornered, especially now that literally every alternative is based on chromium.

I don't think anyone has mentioned Opera yet. Why? It's quite a bit snappier than FF imo, and has extensions like uBlock Origin/HTTPS Everywhere/Privacy Badger available (and the ability to install Chrome extensions).

Edit: I know it's chromium-based, but still wondering!

Re: Dear Mozilla, please stop spamming

#56

Post by SyneRyder » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 3:23 AM UTC

pietroglyph wrote: post #49

thinkloop wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much money does pocket actually generate? It blows my mind that mozilla would pull a java and have us install a figurative toolbar.

I may be mistaken about their revenue model, but I think it’s actually costing them money because they bought the company behind Pocket and they don’t seem to monetize the feature in any way.

Pocket Premium costs $45/yr for a subscription, so they're definitely monetizing it. (I'm a subscriber.)

https://getpocket.com/premium

Re: Dear Mozilla, please stop spamming

#57

Post by detaro » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 3:27 AM UTC

kylek wrote: post #55

Lowkeyloki wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What browser would you suggest instead? I feel a bit cornered, especially now that literally every alternative is based on chromium.

I don't think anyone has mentioned Opera yet. Why? It's quite a bit snappier than FF imo, and has extensions like uBlock Origin/HTTPS Everywhere/Privacy Badger available (and the ability to install Chrome extensions). Edit: I know it's chromium-based, but still wondering!

Going to a closed-source browser owned by a big chinese company because you're worried about Mozilla's open source browser seems like a hard sell.

Re: Dear Mozilla, please stop spamming

#58

Post by Carpetsmoker » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 3:30 AM UTC

So they emailed you about a new service; shrug. Of all the "spam" you could possibly receive this is by far the most useful.

What is it with all Firefox/Mozilla hating as of late? They don't seem to be able to do anything right in the eyes of some people, and seem to be held to a ridiculously high standard (far higher than anyone else).

Re: Dear Mozilla, please stop spamming

#59

Post by detaro » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 3:36 AM UTC

Carpetsmoker wrote: post #58

So they emailed you about a new service; shrug . Of all the "spam" you could possibly receive this is by far the most useful. What is it with all Firefox/Mozilla hating as of late? They don't seem to be able to do anything right in the eyes of some people, and seem to be held to a ridiculously high standard (far higher than anyone else).

If your primary point is "We're the ethical ones fighting for the good", people will hold you to that.

While I generally think there's lots of overblown criticism of Mozilla and that Mozilla is still far ahead of the others in these regards overall, it's worrysome that they get basics like this wrong.

Re: Dear Mozilla, please stop spamming

#60

Post by valtism » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 3:36 AM UTC

Carpetsmoker wrote: post #58

So they emailed you about a new service; shrug . Of all the "spam" you could possibly receive this is by far the most useful. What is it with all Firefox/Mozilla hating as of late? They don't seem to be able to do anything right in the eyes of some people, and seem to be held to a ridiculously high standard (far higher than anyone else).

I don't think they should get a pass just because "other people are doing worse things".