Whine, Whine, Whine

Well, here’s something to get pissy about today. There’s a whole big manifesto called Why FireFox is Blocked, which people like to redirect to if you try to visit their web site using Firefox. Why? Because Firefox, by way of extensions you can find on the internet, happens to allow you to block advertisements if you choose.

I decided I’d rip this whiny rant of theirs to shreds. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

The Mozilla Foundation and its Commercial arm, the Mozilla Corporation, has allowed and endorsed Ad Block Plus, a plug-in that blocks advertisement on web sites and also prevents site owners from blocking people using it.

Sigh. First off, Firefox is an open source project. Second, its interface for plugins and extensions is also completely open. Mozilla does not and cannot police the kinds of extensions people write. This argument is like saying “Microsoft has allowed porn dialers to be written for Windows XP.” Firefox is a platform. Yes, Mozilla endorses Adblock Plus to some degree by putting it on their (huge) list of Firefox extensions, but you still have to go out of your way to look for it and install it.

Also, you morons, it’s not “FireFox.” It’s Firefox. And it’s not “Ad Block Plus.” It’s Adblock Plus. But anyway, moving on…

Many site owners therefore install scripts that prevent people using ad blocking software from accessing their site. That is their right as the site owner to insist that the use of their resources accompanies the presence of the ads.

No, it is my right to control my computer and what it does and displays. It is also my right to use an open platform, be it an operating system, programming environment, web browser, game editor, etc. however the hell I wish to. Period. End of story. The boundary for your control ends where my computer begins. If you don’t like it, then find a better business model, or try to block me. If you do the latter, I’ll take my eyeballs and my wallet somewhere else.

While blanket ad blocking in general is still theft…

Oh, so now it’s theft. Well, thank you for determining that for yourself without any due process by… Oh, I don’t know, the legal system. Anyway, I guess blind people are thieves too, because they use text-to-speech or braille interfaces, which cannot show your ads. How dare they be blind! They’re stealing money right out of your pockets, I say.

Blocking FireFox is the only alternative.

Okay, see ya. I don’t want to read your crappy blog anyway. Of course, saying it’s the “only” alternative is a bunch of crap. There are other models for generating money, but they might actually involve you getting off your rump and making compelling content or services, now wouldn’t they? That’d be a shame.

Demographics have shown that not only are FireFox users a somewhat small percentage of the internet, they actually are even smaller in terms of online spending, therefore blocking FireFox seems to have only minimal financial drawbacks

Right. Because all of the thousands of dollars I’ve spent on Amazon, Apple.com, independent sellers on Half.com and eBay, and donations to small time web sites… Yep, NONE of that happened while I used Firefox. After installing Firefox, I instantly put on a pirate outfit and started prancing around the web, saying “ARRRRRRR!” as I heartlessly pilfered and pillaged other people’s content. Commence eye-rolling!

Since the makers of Ad Block Plus as well as the filter subscriptions that accompany it refuse to allow website owners control over their own intellectual property

The subscriptions come from independent sources. They come from organizations or individuals who, like me, don’t like the flashing, all-singing all-dancing crap of the world to come parading across my screen just to put a penny in some guy’s pocket. Those people are not beholden to you in any way, and nobody affiliated with Adblock Plus or Firefox is likely to have much sway over them. So good luck magically convincing all these filter list providers to somehow go out of their way to help you.

And hey, guess what? On Windows, you can edit your HOSTS.TXT file to block various advertising services that web sites use. I guess that means Microsoft is aiding and abetting these ad-filtering terrorists, too, right? You should block all Windows users, too.

FireFox users can use Internet Explorer, Opera or Netscape (in IE mode) to access it.

Oh, well this is interesting. Did you know that Opera has a built-in ad blocker that lets you filter out anything you want on anybody’s web site? That should be even worse! It’s built-in! From the Opera Features page:

Content Blocker

Remove ads or images - it’s up to you. Right-click (CTRL-click on the Mac) on the Web page and choose “Block content”.

At least with Firefox, you have to go download and install something separate. Yessir, the cracks in this anti-Firefox rant are big enough to shove a blue whale into.

If you are offended by the Mozilla Corporation’s endorsement of dishonesty please contact the Mozilla Foundation and ask them to stop empowering internet theft.

HAHAHAHA. No, you know what I’m offended by? I’m offended by your lame ads that look like Windows error dialogs to try to fish in clueless newbies. I’m also offended by your idiotic, huge banner ads with flashing colors and annoying sound effects. This is not a frickin’ carnival, it’s my computer. For what it’s worth, I don’t block text ads like Google’s (though I easily can), and in fact on sites that I really like, I unblock their ads if the advertisements are tasteful and not disruptive.

No, what offends me is jackasses who think because they write a blog, they have the right to hijack my computer and tell me what I can and cannot do with it.

By the way, did you notice that although the author(s) of this page are quite happy to link you to Mozilla’s contact information, they don’t provide any way to give feedback on their little crybaby rant? What a bunch of cowards. I have the cajones to do what they won’t: Tell me what you think of this manifesto and my indignant reactions to it by sending an e-mail to thomas {{AT SYMBOL }} hochmann.org.