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Honey has now lost 4M Chrome users after shady tactics were revealed

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Re: Honey has now lost 4M Chrome users after shady tactics were revealed

#11

Post by VTimofeenko »

jjice wrote: post #9
0rzech wrote: post #6

It's ironic that probably the biggest victims were youtubers and other "influencers" who mindlessly promoted this extension to their viewers, for money of course.

Genuine question I was wondering when this went down - wasn’t this completely unknown at the time? If that’s the case, I feel like I can’t blame those who promoted it. I don’t have all the info though.

I believe there were some rumors that it was happenning, but not too public.

I think I remember seeing a blogpost about Honey extension being a very bad idea from security perspective way before the public outcry and it might had mentioned the attribution(right term?) too.

Re: Honey has now lost 4M Chrome users after shady tactics were revealed

#12

Post by dang »

Related. Others?

PayPal Honey extension has again "featured" flag in Chrome web store - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43298054 - March 2025 (177 comments)

LegalEagle is suing Honey [video] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42581108 - Jan 2025 (10 comments)

uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42576443 - Jan 2025 (444 comments)

Show HN: Open-source and transparent alternative to Honey - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42535274 - Dec 2024 (10 comments)

Exposing the Honey Influencer Scam [video] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42483500 - Dec 2024 (86 comments)

Amazon says browser extension Honey is a security risk, now that PayPal owns it - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22016031 - Jan 2020 (6 comments)

Re: Honey has now lost 4M Chrome users after shady tactics were revealed

#13

Post by RandomBacon »

redserk wrote: post #5
Whatarethese wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Retailmenot.com

I want to like RetailMeNot but every time I try it, I very seldom come across functioning coupon codes. I don't understand what incentivizes people to submit bogus codes.

Perhaps they are expired codes, or if it's a link (and not something to copy-and-paste) — affiliate marketing.

Re: Honey has now lost 4M Chrome users after shady tactics were revealed

#17

Post by mywittyname »

Larrikin wrote: post #2

What is the alternative? Is there an open source version that is community curated?

Signing up for stuff. Pretty much every online retailer will pay you via discount for your email address.

I set up a specific junk email address for this purpose and give to every retailer I shop with for their initial x% discount, and I receive coupon codes going forward.

From what I can tell, this is the best way to get discounts. Retailers are generous with people they know a lot about. The flip side is that you're going to be a target for their tricks. If you click on a link or add something to your cart, they are going to send you reminders and even more discounts to get you to buy that item.

Personally, I've been happy with this setup. I only see the promo spam when I want to. And my email becomes a personalized coupon code search engine that contains much better deals than you could get by using retailmenot or similar sites.

Re: Honey has now lost 4M Chrome users after shady tactics were revealed

#18

Post by phantom784 »

ebiester wrote: post #7
Larrikin wrote: post #2

What is the alternative? Is there an open source version that is community curated?

The alternative to a company that is hiding real coupon codes and stealing affiliate marketing dollars? Honestly, there's no good answer here because most of the work is manual, not automated, and there are a lot of opportunities for bad actors. It's just a bad model in general.

I don't think it exists today, but someone could make a crowdsourced extension like SponsorBlock. That also eliminate the concern about hiding promo codes for companies who pay.

Re: Honey has now lost 4M Chrome users after shady tactics were revealed

#19

Post by JoshTriplett »

jjice wrote: post #9
0rzech wrote: post #6

It's ironic that probably the biggest victims were youtubers and other "influencers" who mindlessly promoted this extension to their viewers, for money of course.

Genuine question I was wondering when this went down - wasn’t this completely unknown at the time? If that’s the case, I feel like I can’t blame those who promoted it. I don’t have all the info though.

> wasn’t this completely unknown at the time

I would have thought was obvious from the beginning that Honey was making some of its money from affiliate programs; affiliate programs are the standard thing that "shopping" extensions use to make money, leaving aside the much shadier things that even more malicious extensions do (see the various articles on the offers extension authors receive).

I'd always assumed the people promoting it made more money from the sponsorship than they lost from lost affiliate links. The recent discussions suggest that's not the case.

Re: Honey has now lost 4M Chrome users after shady tactics were revealed

#20

Post by DataDive »

Melonai wrote: post #15
cyb_ wrote: post #8

"down from its peak of 20 million."

important context! surprisingly more than i expected! 20% loss of userbase is devastating for an extension, although no doubt not enough for any long-term change in strategy... :)

I had the opposite reaction ... they still have 16 million users ...
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