Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr  ·  activity timestamp last week

Two things that have vastly improved my online life lately:

1. Adding "||accounts.google.com/gsi/*$xhr,script,3p" to Ublock Origin, which comprehensively blocks every Google login popup on random websites;

2. Switching my paypal.com bookmark to "https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_account," which bypasses the "Download the app" nag-screen.
x0
@x0@dragonscave.space replied  ·  activity timestamp last week
@pluralistic I have a question. For a person using Firefox who would want to block these annoying pop-ups, but is actually signed into a Google account on some Google services and uses it as an auth provider for the occasional thing, would this blocking break those sites ability to let me sign in or up with Google by explicitly clicking a button for said? I could never find the answer to that one.
frigginGlorious ✅
@frigginglorious@freeradical.zone replied  ·  activity timestamp last week
@Jeanniewarner @paul_ipv6 @pluralistic I got rid of the Facebook and Instagram apps long ago, but the app I'd love to be able to delete is Meta's Messenger app. It's still a primary way I keep in touch with a lot of folks.

I try to buy used stuff as often as i can. A new kicker i realized, is that FB Marketplace is used way more than Craigslist around these parts, with Messenger being an integral component.
Earthshine
@earthshine@masto.hackers.town replied  ·  activity timestamp last week
@Jeanniewarner @paul_ipv6 @pluralistic this is true of pretty much *all* websites that nag you to use an app. That nag is always a good reminder to switch your browser back into desktop mode or change the user agent to get the less shitty non-mobile version of the site... because if they're nagging you to use an app, they're no doubt also sabotaging the mobile experience in other ways to force your hand.
David Nash
@dpnash@c.im replied  ·  activity timestamp last week
@earthshine @Jeanniewarner @paul_ipv6 @pluralistic This reminds me of a particularly evil deceptive pattern from Reddit: for a time (and possibly still now) the mobile site version blocked access to some subreddits, with an alert stating that the subreddit is not visible without the mobile app. On an iPad or other device that easily toggles between desktop and mobile site mode, the mobile app nagwall appeared and disappeared like magic when you switched modes.
Justin ⏚
@JustinH@twit.social replied  ·  activity timestamp last week
@pluralistic The most under-reported uBlock protip I know about is checking off the the "annoyances" filter lists after installing (which are not checked by default)!
Cory Doctorow
@pluralistic@mamot.fr replied  ·  activity timestamp last week

I can't tell you how much both of these fucking things annoyed the shit out of me, and how satisfying it is to eke out a little disenshittification because I'm using a browser that can be modified to take orders from me, and not giant, stupid corporations that believe that if their customers are too happy, they're leaving money on the table.
axby
@axby@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp last week
@pluralistic It brings me comfort to know that I’m not the only one who hates this stuff so much. But it’s also depressing to think that even if I were to become as successful as you, I’ll still be stuck looking for workarounds like this and getting forever annoyed by the enshitification treadmill.

And it feels like a losing battle. Is firefox market share remaining low, or looking to take off? Can uBlock lite or whatever the Chromium/manifest V3 option is even do stuff like this?
axby
@axby@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp last week
@pluralistic and more broadly, is there any reason to be optimistic?

I feel like most people don’t care enough. And I feel like it’s really hard for independent developers to break into any existing space. It’s hard for people to give new apps a try when there’s so much out there and most tend to get enshittified anyway. The bar is high for features and polish.

It’s encouraging that some European countries are using Matrix and LibreOffice, so maybe things will turn around eventually?
Angus McIntyre
@angusm@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp last week
@pluralistic The “Download our app” nag messages are a plague that isn't limited to Paypal.

Between “Don't you want to download our app?”, “Can we send you notifications?”, "What's your location?”, “Join our mailing list!”, "Accept our cookies!” and the inevitable popover videos, it can take seven or eight clicks before you even get to the bit where the web page asks you to turn off your ad-blocker.

The web didn't become user-hostile all at once, but now the frog is well and truly boiled.
Nicole Parsons
@Npars01@mstdn.social replied  ·  activity timestamp last week
@ThreeSigma @angusm @pluralistic

The latest version is moving the "I want to read this" portion of the text as you scroll to increase the chances that the reader will fatfinger touch an advertisement.

The "back" icon sends you to the top of the article again instead of where you were.

Imagine if paper books acted like this. You touch the edge of a page to flip to the next page and it sends you to an advertisement instead.

Flipping the page back sends you to the beginning of the book.