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Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

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Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#91

Post by mozman »

logdap wrote: post #4
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…

Mozilla management are malicious snakes. This isn't the first time they've tried something like this and it won't be the last. Each time they issue noncommittally apologies, if you can call them that, but it keeps on happening. They're testing the water for even more ads in Firefox, trying to normalize this until people stop complaining. Keep the heat on them, don't give them an inch or they'll take a mile.

It's not all management. It's Mitchell Baker. She needs to step down as CEO.

Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#92

Post by JohnFen »

ionioniodfngio wrote: post #12
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…

It's not that I like Firefox so much as that all the competition is unusable. Firefox has gone downhill, but at least it's extensible enough that I can largely reverse the decay.

Firefox is much less configurable than it used to be, though. I can no longer fix all of the stuff in it that needs fixing.

Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#93

Post by bentcorner »

millzlane wrote: post #72

I saw this yesterday while I was using the browser at work. At first I really thought nothing of it. It was was strange seeing it out of nowhere and I was indifferent about it. I love the browser and it has saved me time and my sanity by allowing be to block advertisements that infect us all and being reliable as a browser I can always count on to work how I want. With that said, after reading the bug reports and com…

I saw this too and wasn't too bothered, although I wondered if there was something I did on the page that somehow triggered the "we think you should know about our VPN thing" popup. Which IMO is also a bad thing - users don't know why you're showing them that thing at that particular moment.

The best place to show something like this is probably in an update splash screen. "Hey great news you're updated to v.next, you might want to know about our VPN thing too"

Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#95

Post by JohnFen »

0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #51
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Makes you wonder how someone thought this was a good idea in a browser that was an early pioneer of popup blockers. Two reasons: clueless management who chases short term returns, and a rabid fanbase that will constantly make excuses for them no matter how much they decline, because "at least they're not Google/Microsoft"

"Rabid fanbase"? I feel like the majority of us are only begrudging users. Best of the worst available options.

Amongst my friends, I was consider a "rabid firefox user" because I kept using it for a few years after everyone else bailed on it after quantum.

Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#96

Post by Animats »

lelanthran wrote: post #58
sharess wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The people who greenlighted this were the people who ousted those who built Firefox. The current crop of "leaders" have a vision that does not include Firefox being the best browser it can be. Trust me, they're politically aware of what they are doing, and are only gauging outrage now. Give it some time and they'll figure out how to leverage the outrage, as they did before. Never let a good crisis go to waste, and al…

> The people who greenlighted this were the people who ousted those who built Firefox.

Mozilla got rid of their founder, Brendan Eich, for donating to a California initiative against gay marriage. Now we see what that costs us.

Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#97

Post by nulbyte »

JohnFen wrote: post #85
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…

I switched away from Firefox a couple of years ago for a number of reasons that can be collectively summarized as "Firefox no longer meets my needs". But as a Firefox user from the very beginning, I still keep tabs on it, hoping that it will improve enough for me to return to it. Things like this, however, strongly indicate to me that Firefox is just lost and will never find its way back.

I wanted to like Firefox. So much so that I used to carry my keys on a Firefox branded lanyard. Eventually, I gave up and switched. Presently, Im trying Brave. I don't really like it, but I'm now at the point where I don't think there is such a thing as a user-friendly browser anymore.

Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#98

Post by JKCalhoun »

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…

Makes me wonder why so much of Corporate America make decisions based on "What's the outrage threshold for our users and how can we sneak up close to it?"

Re: Mozilla stops Firefox fullscreen VPN ads after user outrage

#100

Post by devmor »

comice wrote: post #45
devmor wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

No, they did not. The complaint is poorly worded. They added an internal browser pop-up that covers pages to display an ad.
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