Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions • Hacker News Board

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#581

Post by The-Compiler » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 1:31 PM UTC

0des wrote: post #494

ayushnix wrote: post #463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's qutebrowser and you can donate directly to the developer but I'm not sure if you'd be comfortable using it. The major downside is that web extensions (addons) don't work in qutebrowser.

> but I'm not sure if you'd be comfortable Oh I like this. It's subtle in a way that flies under the radar but still blesses someone's little heart effectively. On a side note: I love qutebrowser, even as someone who doesn't prefer Vim or Vim keybindings in things. I like it because it is slim up top, and does what you tell it to and not a stitch more. If it got paywalled tomorrow, but everything else remained the sa…

FWIW you can donate (via my GitHub Sponsors profile), I'd rather not force people to pay for it, though ;)

One thing I would perhaps consider is having more "proper" releases for macOS and Windows (with things like code signing, automatic updates, etc. - perhaps even via the Windows and macOS stores) for a small one-time fee. But that's mainly because supporting those platforms properly costs me additional money (and additional time).

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#582

Post by TeMPOraL » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 1:31 PM UTC

tempest_ wrote: post #549

tomrod wrote: post #496

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, this issue is also reflected with the mobile upgrade that wiped most of the functionality, extension integration, and good will. Whomever they have hired to (1) perform UX research and (2) make executive decisions aren't performing, IMHO.

I did not use the mobile version until after they redid the design. I dont really have a lot of complaints about it. I like the dark mode and the address bar at the bottom it has ad blocker. What all changed between those versions ?

Performance dropped like a brick. Plus the things 'tomrod listed in a parallel reply.

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#583

Post by drowe859 » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 1:32 PM UTC

acatton wrote: post #523

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that's not at all what Brave is doing. They tried to innovate a new way to pay for content. It's complex, but it's not a scam. Brave seems more trustworthy than FF to me right now.

Wikipedia (and its sources) tends to disagree with you and agree with GP. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brave_(web_browse...

I'm not finding the section you linked to very damning at all. Of the four issues, all were resolved quickly and according to community wishes.

1. Unverified Brave Creators UI - Two days after the complaint, Brave issued an update to "clearly indicate which publishers and creators have not yet joined Brave Rewards so users can better control how they donate and tip. Tom Scott, the original complainant, tweeted in response: "These are good changes, and they fix the complaints I had!".

2. Affiliate Links to Crypto Exchanges - Two days later, Brave released a new version which they said disabled the auto-completion to partner links, followed by a blog post explaining the issue and apologizing. Def the most scummy of the list IMO.

3. DNS Leaks with built in TOR - An issue was discovered and fixed via their Bug Bounty program, where they have an average 6 days to bounty payout.

4. A company violated their terms of service.

I definitely have my biases, although I don't use Brave daily anymore. But I don't think the controversies section you linked is particularly egregious or indicative of bad faith.

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#584

Post by soundnote » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 1:32 PM UTC

_8j50 wrote: post #100

hsbauauvhabzb wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outsider here: whats wrong with brave? I haven’t touched it but have no reason to distrust it, happy for you to change that for me though

Brave is based on Chromium, it lacks some of the privacy centric features that are found in Gecko browsers. 1st party isolation,tracker blocking, containers, anti fingerprinting measures and SNI encryption are some things I can think of right now (maybe chrome as caught up now?) Plus, Google controls Chromium and Firefox is literally the only alternative now. They push changes that are against or in in ignorance of o…

> Brave is based on Chromium, it lacks some of the privacy centric features that are found in Gecko browsers. 1st party isolation,tracker blocking, containers, anti fingerprinting measures and SNI encryption are some things I can think of right now (maybe chrome as caught up now?)

What? One of the main points of the project is to build a browser with a whole bunch of tinfoil like tracker blocking and anti fingerprinting measures. They wrote their own built-in adblocker with Rust so it won't get fucked by Manifest v3 since it's part of the browser. They're the only Chromium browser that does CNAME uncloaking, something that uBlock Origin can only do on Firefox.

Containers are unique to Firefox, Chromium browsers handle that via separate user profiles.

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#585

Post by mox1 » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 1:33 PM UTC

jrochkind1 wrote: post #473

samizdis wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I really, really, really dislike the language they have used lately. That is exactly the problem I have with it - weasel words and euphemisms; FF is scoring an own-goal here and eroding trust. Why not just tell it like it is. "We need funding and are lining up deals with third parties to display their ads/messaging in the address bar search. We vet these third parties by holding them contractually to these standard…

At first I had an immediate negative reaction to this. But then I thought, okay, they need money, ads in address bar isn't the worst thing in the world. But then then I thought: But only if they are clearly disclosed as ads! Instead we seem to have a combination of " traditional suggestions like browsing history and open tabs, as well as new suggestions from our partners" -- are the "paid placements" clearly designat…

I would love for them to go NPR style on ads. If you listen to an NPR radio station (at least here in my area), basically anyone can run a radio ad, but it has to be about 10 seconds max and it is delivered by the on-air personality. "Npr would like to thank Bob's Hot Dogs, Bobs hot dogs deliver an excellent dog at an excellent price, find out more at bobdogs.com"

Replace the brand there with yours and that's what you get. No contextual bs, no crazy logos or statements, just a simple word from a sponsor.

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#586

Post by galgalesh » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 1:34 PM UTC

hartator wrote: post #390

How can people still support Mozilla at this point?

In case you are interested in a real answer:

This doesn't change my opinion of them in any way. Although I think ads are cancer, I think it's much worse for Firefox to stay dependent on Google for their entire revenue. I want them to experiment with finding ways to make money off their browser. I want them to keep existing long-term and that's only possible if you have money.

Would I like Firefox to have no ads at all? Yes. But I believe it's better for Firefox to have ads than to be dependent on Google's money.

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#587

Post by asddubs » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 1:35 PM UTC

cxr wrote: post #417

silvestrov wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why not just tell it like it is. Because they don't want to say: "we want a lot of money to all kinds of projects irrelevant to the browser". They should focus on their core product and cut everything else away. Instead they are an organization that tries to save the whole world. It seems like they think the jobs created for themselves by "saving the world" is the core business and Firefox is just a cash-cow for th…

Damn it would be nice if this meme would die. The first of its sins is the tacit agreement that Mozilla is doing this because, as the parent comment says, they "need funding". Mozilla needs funding now like Wikipedia needs funding: they have more of it than they've ever had, but by all appearances, you'd think they're really strapped for cash or something, because their pleas have gotten steadily more intrusive and d…

>like writing a check to Wikimedia and then blogging about how the reason that there are no overlays nagging you for funding this year is because Mozilla decided to foot the bill and so you're welcome—way more effective than _anything_ the marketing department has done to date

I doubt wikimedia would agree to that, since their schtick is that it's user funded and thus a neutral actor

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#588

Post by denton-scratch » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 1:36 PM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #270

Swenrekcah wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you get 5000 people paying $5/month for every person working on a truly private browser, you have $25,000/month per teammate. I'm sure you could find 50,000 people in the world willing to pay this. I'm one of them. The problem is how you get started while building reputation, but I'm sure that it's possible.

> The problem is how you get started while building reputation, but I'm sure that it's possible. In case of Mozilla/Firefox: do this while you still have some reputation left. It's literally the one party on the Internet that would have a chance of pulling it off.

I approve of this traditional usage of the term "literally". It's literally correct, but possibly too late - they've been burning bridges for five years.

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#589

Post by maple3142 » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 1:38 PM UTC

exar0815 wrote: post #85

By the love of all thats holy, I still don't understand how the development of an entire operating system can be reasonably coordinated by a (admittably singlularly competent) sole finnish guy in a bathrobe from home, while a comparably simple webbrowser needs a foundation, a company, a ceo, a code of conduct, all those outreach and social-action programmes etc... Or maybe, is all that cesspool of ineffectiveness and…

I think the main difference between OS kernel and browser is the former can decide what they need to support, but the latter need to be compatible in order to render existing website. IMO, Building a new browser is more similar to building a Windows-compatible operating system.

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#590

Post by zh3 » Thu, Oct 07, 2021, 1:39 PM UTC

dblohm7 wrote: post #558

zh3 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's always Palemoon [0] (for anyone who likes the classic firefox interface). I've been using it for years (and have donated), plus I like the fact it can be installed just by unpacking a tarball/zip file (as well as the more usual methods). [0] http://www.palemoon.org/

Palemoon, the same guys who mock sandboxing and multiprocess browsing? No thanks.

Ah, the old, now-deleted (and much-refuted) reddit post [0], I assume?

[0] https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=22270#p16867...