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Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

bleepingcomputer.com

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Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#41

Post by wlesieutre »

weinzierl wrote: post #21
wlesieutre wrote: post #2

Makes you wonder how someone thought this was a good idea in a browser that was an early pioneer of popup blockers. Imagine if Firefox in the 2000's had seen popup ads and said "Yeah let's get in on that action!" At least it was a small scale experiment and not something that rolled out to the whole install base, I use Firefox on a couple of computers and didn't see it myself. But should you really need user feedback…

If something like this happens once it could be a slip, but we've been there again and again. Mozilla is testing how far it can go only backpedaling when there is resistance. I don't trust them a bit and would switch Browser anytime if there was a visble alternative.

Orion (from Kagi) is "planning support for other platforms in the future," if that lands for Windows I'll probably bail on Firefox

For me it's been downhill since they removed "Compact" UI density, and I'd just as soon not jump through a bunch of custom CSS hoops to have sidebar tabs when nearly all the other browsers (outside of Chrome/Safari) are building them in natively. The main thing going for Firefox is being the independent rendering engine, for customization and power user features it's nothing special anymore.

Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#42

Post by ilyt »

slater wrote: post #7

Someone needs to make a "Firefox Marketing Department Greatest Hits" page; this isn't the first time, by far, they've tried to shoe-horn some absolutely user-hostile garbage into some release, followed by the usual "we will do better" back-pedalling non-apology

"But freedom and openness!"

Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#43

Post by mulmen »

charlieyu1 wrote: post #23

A lot of organisations/entrepreneurs have made decisions that are so out of touch with the user base that people would question why would someone do that. Like, I can understand maximising profit, but you don’t have to enrage your user base to achieve your goals

Depends on your goals. Facebook has done well selling outraged eyeballs.

Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#44

Post by elashri »

walrus01 wrote: post #33
super256 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the value proposition of using Mozilla VPN over Mullvad directly, other than adding a layer of USA on top of it (which is a bad thing imo)? Also, has Mozilla VPN also a windows client, or is it more like the Opera Proxies (which were called VPN for some reason)?

For myself as possible VPN end user I don't see the value proposition, but presumably, Mozilla is treating this as a new source of revenue (they get some percentage of the total monthly recurring or a one time sign up commmission or something from Mullvad?) as a way to be very slightly less dependent on Google for most of their incoming revenue stream. I can see ordinary non technical users who want to "buy a VPN ser…

The only thing that makes me choose it over Mullvad is how well the integration with Multi-Container in Firefox. It is a first class citizen compared with VPN profiles support for others.

Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#45

Post by comice »

devmor wrote: post #22
comice wrote: post #15

it's a bit unclear what they intended here but I see a lot of people assuming the absolute worst intent. That Firefox would fully intend to insert full page unskippable adverts of it's own into unrelated websites is a major accusation and there is evidence this was an accident. Looks more to me like bleepingcomputer purposefully sensationalized the issue as clickbait.

This is not the first time Mozilla has injected an ad campaign into the browser chrome. They did this a couple years ago as well to similar backlash, that time with a plugin that they force-installed for users.

That sounds pretty bad but what do you mean by "browser chrome"? Isn't the claim here that they injected an ad into an actual page?

Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#46

Post by Kwpolska »

psychphysic wrote: post #5

Wow if ad blockers can work does that mean Firefox injects this advert? Its not just and overlay but code added to the webpage? I'm awe struck at the stupidity of this idea.

I doubt it was injected into pages. The screenshots shows the top chrome dimmed. I suppose people conflated not being randomly selected to get the ad with an ad blocker blocking the ad.

Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#47

Post by grey_earthling »

slater wrote: post #7

Someone needs to make a "Firefox Marketing Department Greatest Hits" page; this isn't the first time, by far, they've tried to shoe-horn some absolutely user-hostile garbage into some release, followed by the usual "we will do better" back-pedalling non-apology

arewefishyyet.com is available.

Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#48

Post by 0cf8612b2e1e »

ilikepi wrote: post #11
sandyarmstrong wrote: post #3

I noticed this yesterday. I've been using Mozilla/Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox as my primary browser for over 20 years. They've made some questionable calls, sure, but most of the recent things that have bothered people (like Pocket integration) haven't really irked me. This is the first time where I got a visceral feeling that maybe this isn't the browser I knew and loved anymore. It's not like I'm uninstalling and swit…

Did you miss the episode in 2017 in which they used an internal control to force the installation of an add-on as part of a promotion for a television show? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15941302 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15940144 I feel similarly to you...long-time user, bummed out by stuff like this. Sometimes it feels like Firefox would be a lot better off without Mozilla occasionally making deal…

I read a conspiracy that Google has paid off Mozilla management to specifically sabotage the browser development. Actions like this make it hard to dispute the moves that frequently seem deliberately anti-user.

Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#49

Post by sharess »

wlesieutre wrote: post #2

Makes you wonder how someone thought this was a good idea in a browser that was an early pioneer of popup blockers. Imagine if Firefox in the 2000's had seen popup ads and said "Yeah let's get in on that action!" At least it was a small scale experiment and not something that rolled out to the whole install base, I use Firefox on a couple of computers and didn't see it myself. But should you really need user feedback…

This ad overlay shows such a fundamental lack of understanding on what Firefox was built on that the people who greenlighted this need to go immediately.

They are completely out of their depth and not fit for their job.

Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#50

Post by comice »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #28
comice wrote: post #15

it's a bit unclear what they intended here but I see a lot of people assuming the absolute worst intent. That Firefox would fully intend to insert full page unskippable adverts of it's own into unrelated websites is a major accusation and there is evidence this was an accident. Looks more to me like bleepingcomputer purposefully sensationalized the issue as clickbait.

What else could they have been trying to do? From seeing the bug filed/fixed wrt the issue, it seems like the only unintentual part was that the popup appeared to quickly, it was showing up after 20ms instead of 20s or something like that

they could have been intending to insert the advert into other places, which wouldn't be quite as outrageous (though I happen dislike them inserting them anywhere, but some places are definitely worse than others).
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