Gorhill pulls uBlock Origin Lite from Firefox store • Hacker News Board

Re: Gorhill pulls uBlock Origin Lite from Firefox store

#411

Post by lol768 » Wed, Oct 02, 2024, 10:16 PM UTC

SSLy wrote: post #54

lol768 wrote: post #52

Why does this extension even exist on AMO? The article says it's the "Lite/Manifest v3 version" - why would you ever install the inferior edition meant for legacy browsers, instead of the one that blocks ads properly that's meant for Firefox?

Because it's lighter on power usage, and that matters for firefox on android.

You know what else uses power? Ads! Particularly the flashy animated ones that fingerprint the browser and hoover up data to prove you're a real human ad impression. I'd wager it doesn't take too many of those slipping through the net to completely undo your "power saving" of a slightly more efficient way of blocking resources.

Has anyone actually done some quantitative research here? I've been using Firefox with uBO for years on Android and of all the apps on my phone, Firefox is not the one that's chewing through battery.

Re: Gorhill pulls uBlock Origin Lite from Firefox store

#412

Post by deepsun » Wed, Oct 02, 2024, 10:24 PM UTC

4bpp wrote: post #53

If I understand the timeline correctly here, it seems that gorhill overreacted, and I say that as someone who is usually harshly critical of everything Mozilla has done in the past 5+ years. It's hardly practical for Mozilla to manually review every add-on revision for safety in a timely manner, so they had the choice between automation and delays that would make add-on development a slog; automation though inevitabl…

I'd pay for speedy reviews. I don't think it would resolve to paywall, but the reviewers are not free.

Re: Gorhill pulls uBlock Origin Lite from Firefox store

#413

Post by fcking_n1gg3rs » Wed, Oct 02, 2024, 10:27 PM UTC

open-paren wrote: post #117

I manage a medium-sized browser extension at work. We also offer(ed) it on Firefox. But I have spent the past year struggling to get back into Mozilla store after a manual review. As far as I can tell, there are maybe two reviewers that are based in Europe (Romania?). The turn around time is long when I am in the US, and it has been rife with this same kind of "simple mistake" that takes 2 weeks to resolve. "You need…

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Re: Gorhill pulls uBlock Origin Lite from Firefox store

#414

Post by phendrenad2 » Wed, Oct 02, 2024, 10:42 PM UTC

phendrenad2 wrote: post #96

4bpp wrote: post #53

If I understand the timeline correctly here, it seems that gorhill overreacted, and I say that as someone who is usually harshly critical of everything Mozilla has done in the past 5+ years. It's hardly practical for Mozilla to manually review every add-on revision for safety in a timely manner, so they had the choice between automation and delays that would make add-on development a slog; automation though inevitabl…

Exactly. And this is why we need paid browsers. If the ad-supported/donation-supported browsers like Firefox need to apply low-quality automated solutions to approving/rejecting even their most popular addons, then clearly the business model isn't working.

Wow, stirred up a latent hornet's nest with this one. I should have known, people love "free" stuff (even if it's obvious to everyone, even themselves, that it is not at all "free"). Anyway, I think a paid browser would help solve this problem. If you don't agree, please, keep using Firefox or Chrome or whatever "free" browser you prefer.

Re: Gorhill pulls uBlock Origin Lite from Firefox store

#415

Post by CatWChainsaw » Wed, Oct 02, 2024, 11:38 PM UTC

It seems like customer service/PR/UX has really taken a nosedive since the start of COVID or maybe 2022. The pendulum seems to be swinging from "the customer is always right" to "give me your money, shut the fuck up, and go away until I want your money again."

Gorhill threw in the towel on uBOL after dealing with repeated bullshit from Mozilla, from the sounds of it. Multiple reviews, multiple people not understanding what the most famous FF extension in the world does, multiple appeals.

Personally, in just the past month, USPS has dropped active email conversations twice; a vendor I use often at work has disabled important web pages and there's utter silence from their support email; Verizon is deprecating their messaging app in a month and I learned this through reddit; and my bank returned a canned response to an issue I raised two months ago.

I remember a comment on this site from several months ago from someone who worked in customer service who shared a list of things that deprioritize you in a company's eyes, but it sounded like if you express the least bit of frustration at a bad experience, it goes on your permanent record. Companies, however, are allowed to shaft you however they please.

Re: Gorhill pulls uBlock Origin Lite from Firefox store

#416

Post by paradox460 » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 12:05 AM UTC

spacechild1 wrote: post #237

EasyMark wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To have a reviewer under your employ that doesn’t know what UBO is or it’s dev, makes me feel pretty confident in siding with gorilla on this, but I hope that he does calm down a bit and put the extension back up.

> in siding with gorilla on this Off topic, but this is such a funny autocomplete accident :)

I wouldn't really want to go up against King Kong

Re: Gorhill pulls uBlock Origin Lite from Firefox store

#417

Post by LegitShady » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 12:45 AM UTC

fcking_n1gg3rs wrote: post #413

open-paren wrote: post #117

I manage a medium-sized browser extension at work. We also offer(ed) it on Firefox. But I have spent the past year struggling to get back into Mozilla store after a manual review. As far as I can tell, there are maybe two reviewers that are based in Europe (Romania?). The turn around time is long when I am in the US, and it has been rife with this same kind of "simple mistake" that takes 2 weeks to resolve. "You need…

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Re: Gorhill pulls uBlock Origin Lite from Firefox store

#418

Post by arresin » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 2:31 AM UTC

horsawlarway wrote: post #292

open-paren wrote: post #117

I manage a medium-sized browser extension at work. We also offer(ed) it on Firefox. But I have spent the past year struggling to get back into Mozilla store after a manual review. As far as I can tell, there are maybe two reviewers that are based in Europe (Romania?). The turn around time is long when I am in the US, and it has been rife with this same kind of "simple mistake" that takes 2 weeks to resolve. "You need…

Similar boat. I release an extension with about 1 million installs across Chrome/Firefox/Edge for work. Firefox (despite being the smallest usage) is utterly insane with regards to process. They demand a reproducible build, but then can't do things like install the right version of yarn (no - npm install -g yarn is not correct, our readme says it in bold like 5 times and provides the exact correct command to install…

It’s funny to think of Mozilla like landed gentry where they have captured serfs (their users) and get a payout from the king (Google) for their loyalty and support.

Re: Gorhill pulls uBlock Origin Lite from Firefox store

#419

Post by arresin » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 2:33 AM UTC

bornfreddy wrote: post #407

xelamonster wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds super frustrating, as someone who has an idea or two for browser extensions I'm not looking forward to all the bureaucracy. I actually love the idea of requiring and validating reproducible builds but they really should invest in reviewers competent enough to manage that. I do have half an idea to deal with it that I plan to try, thought it might be helpful to suggest: implement a Fisher-Price build syste…

> ... it might be helpful to suggest: implement a Fisher-Price build system that checks and automates every single step and cannot go wrong... Programming is a race between the programmers, trying to build better, idiot-proof software, and the Universe, trying to build better idiots. Do not underestimate the Universe.

You really feel this in UI design and it’s hard to get the balance right.

Re: Gorhill pulls uBlock Origin Lite from Firefox store

#420

Post by sureIy » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:12 AM UTC

somerandom2407 wrote: post #296

sureIy wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think people care about giving permissions to one of the most popular extensions ever. The advantages of giving that extension full access are quite clear and the dangers minimal.

I care. I'll probably just switch to Brave instead of either installing this manually (risky) or using the full-blown addon (risky). The value proposition for Firefox has just diminished.

You care, but you’ll probably just switch to a fringe browser that has far more permissions than an extension. Ok.