Modern Web Woes - I'm mad at the internet

[30+GameOvers]

I'd hate to break it to ya, but Chromium browsers do this shit too. I have an older Intel Mac that I downgraded to Mojave a few months back, and no Chromium build would work on it: not Edge, not Brave, not even Ungoogled Chromium even if I tried to compile it via Homebrew. Not only that, but I had to upgrade to Catalina for v128 ESR to install, and even then, the clock's ticking on Catalina support too. The modern internet does not like old operating systems, and they will be left in the dust, unfortunately. Apple is far worse in this regard than other companies, but it is what it is.

As to your Firefox dilemma, it's specifically related to the root certificate that comes in older builds prior to v115.13 (ESR). Rebuilds of Firefox like Librewolf and Waterfox are hardly distinct from upstream, so they'll most likely be affected too. I presume you're still holding out on migrating from Windows 7/8.1, since that's what this root certificate change will impact the most. I'd suggest migrating to Linux or something, but Linux distros just don't hit the same as classic Windows 7.

I'm on Windows 10, I simply don't update Firefox since I don't trust them. Is there any way lobotomize the browser so that it never asks for an update again and doesn't disable it's features after a month?

 

[Dread First]

I'm on Windows 10, I simply don't update Firefox since I don't trust them. Is there any way lobotomize the browser so that it never asks for an update again and doesn't disable it's features after a month?

No, there isn't one that I'm aware of. Look man, I detest the retards who run Mozilla too but like... just update your damn browser. You're only kneecapping yourself by staying on a specific version that's gonna shit itself after six weeks due to a root certificate issue, especially if you're not running an older version of Windows.

If you don't wanna go through major feature updates every six weeks (a respectable position), you always have the option of running an extended support release version. Feature updates happen once a year, with the only updates you receive in the interim being backported security fixes.

There are plenty of ways to modify Firefox so that the Mozilla-specific annoyances are minimised, or outright disabled. For the most part, you only really need to adjust some settings post-installation to get rid of the worst of it. If, you wish to go further, Arkenfox is a custom Firefox profile that modifies a litany of flags for the sake of hardening the browser and reducing unnecessary noise from Mozilla's part..

 

[Nitro!]

I'm on Windows 10, I simply don't update Firefox since I don't trust them. Is there any way lobotomize the browser so that it never asks for an update again and doesn't disable it's features after a month?

Yes, policies.json.

{"policies": {"DisableAppUpdate": true}}

Dump it into distribution/ and you're good to go.

 

[Blamo2000]

I really hate "personalization", I get different results in different browsers, for some godforsaken result I cannot get "global results". I wish we still had Google 2008.

Where did all the fun websites go? where did all my Image Boards go? where did my silly billy goober forums go? where did everything go?

It is simple.

Image boards got killed by Twitter and Discord. Forums got killed by Reddit. Websites/blogs got killed by social media and Google/SEO Jeets. The saddest part, because Social Media is the big overarching cultural force, even if we had tons of forums, image boards and blogs again, they would still have the same mono-culture.

It seems inconsistent. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it does this shit:

View attachment 6913889

I was searching for a minor cow I'd been introduced to. Google decided it knew better than me.

Oh, totally. I hate it when I want to search for a exact term, and the search engine decides to treat it as a question or something. I blame normies and their "best computer 2007" style of searches. Hell, ChatGPT and friends are basically just search engines decide to deal with the search queries that are questions, because nobody taught the average user how to actually use a search engine.

The most annoying on Google is when you click on the different options, they automatically just change your text and query for the next page. Meh.

 

[30+GameOvers]

just update your damn browser

I already told you why I'm not doing it. Learn to read.

Yes, policies.json.

{"policies": {"DisableAppUpdate": true}}

Dump it into distribution/ and you're good to go.

Thanks. Will that stop my browser from working in a month, and if not, how do I get around that?

 

[seri0us]

I don't trust them

Then don't use their browser?

 

[Belisarius Cawl]

Oh, totally. I hate it when I want to search for a exact term, and the search engine decides to treat it as a question or something. I blame normies and their "best computer 2007" style of searches. Hell, ChatGPT and friends are basically just search engines decide to deal with the search queries that are questions, because nobody taught the average user how to actually use a search engine.

The most annoying on Google is when you click on the different options, they automatically just change your text and query for the next page. Meh.

Putting the term, even if it's only one word, in double quotes usually does it for me. A lesser known technique is putting an asterisk within the double quotes to stand in for one or more unknown words in the middle:

https://booleanblackbelt.com/2009/09/google-search-the-asterisk-wildcard-and-punctuation/

I often find this useful for song lyrics and foreign language searches where I was able to make out some of the words but got lost a bit in between them.

 

[Blamo2000]

Putting the term, even if it's only one word, in double quotes usually does it for me. A lesser known technique is putting an asterisk within the double quotes to stand in for one or more unknown words in the middle:

https://booleanblackbelt.com/2009/09/google-search-the-asterisk-wildcard-and-punctuation/

I often find this useful for song lyrics and foreign language searches where I was able to make out some of the words but got lost a bit in between them.

Cool, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks.

 

[stares at error messages]

Both New Chrome and Brave have fucked up bookmark side bars now. Firefox's only works because they've just never changed it from back when they had good browser. Seems slightly less broken in Brave because you can have the natural sort order in the menu list be the way it's sorted in the bookmark bar, but you can't edit the bookmark bar from the menu like in old releases since they updated the skinning. Sales people and design teams are the worst and seem take pleasure in fucking up other people's lives.

 

[Echinacea]

That's not as bad as when sites get "Cloudflare'd" (that error page with "bad gateway" or "gateway timeout" BS).

And there's when "Cloudflare" took KF down because "imminent threat to human life", before Null made KiwiFlare.

Yet, Cloudflare doesn't have a problem hosting zoosadist sites and protecting the identity of abusers, even today. Pure evil company

 

[Dread First]

Yes, policies.json.

{"policies": {"DisableAppUpdate": true}}

Dump it into distribution/ and you're good to go.

I already told you why I'm not doing it. Learn to read.

Thanks. Will that stop my browser from working in a month, and if not, how do I get around that?

How will that help if the crux of his issue is the fact that the root certificate in his browser will expire on 14MAR25? Even if he makes the change, that won’t stop the root certificate from expiring and his browser shitting itself. That’s not a Mozilla specific quirk; all browsers do this nowadays.

 

[Nitro!]

Thanks. Will that stop my browser from working in a month, and if not, how do I get around that?

I don't know, but look, you can't have it both ways with a web browser, it's not static software. I have it installed so Firefox doesn't henpeck me to death with its nagging but the tradeoff is I make a conscious effort to be on top of security alerts. If something breaks I am in there fixing it myself or just say fuck it, go ahead and run the update already.

If all you want is Firefox to not change around its UI every six months try Firefox ESR.

How will that help if the crux of his issue is the fact that the root certificate in his browser will expire on 14MAR25? Even if he makes the change, that won’t stop the root certificate from expiring and his browser shitting itself. That’s not a Mozilla specific quirk; all browsers do this nowadays.

I just hate the update nag as much as he does.

 

[Blamo2000]

I really dislike Wikia/fandom.com. The website layout is bloated, even navigating it is a mess. It is depressing that pretty much everything online got captured into monopoly platforms that are just keep getting worse and worse.

 

[The Spoils of War]

I really dislike Wikia/fandom.com. The website layout is bloated, even navigating it is a mess. It is depressing that pretty much everything online got captured into monopoly platforms that are just keep getting worse and worse.

Try using antifandom.com. It unfucks the layout.

 

[Blamo2000]

Try using antifandom.com. It unfucks the layout.

This works, thanks!

 

[Day of the Cope]

This works, thanks!

There's also a greasyfork extension that auto-redirects.

 

[Merton J. Dingle]

There's also a greasyfork extension that auto-redirects.

Not to mention the Indie Wiki Buddy browser extention that gives you a lot of options beyond cleaning up the layout, like putting a banner at the top of the page informing you that there is another Wiki available (in case the two Wikis have very distinct information).

Anyways, I've been wondering if we'll see any more companies pulling back on the woke censorship since Facebook did so. Would be nice to at least have the 2016 Reddit back if that site is going to continue cannibalizing forums.

 

[Blamo2000]

Not to mention the Indie Wiki Buddy browser extention that gives you a lot of options beyond cleaning up the layout, like putting a banner at the top of the page informing you that there is another Wiki available (in case the two Wikis have very distinct information).

Anyways, I've been wondering if we'll see any more companies pulling back on the woke censorship since Facebook did so. Would be nice to at least have the 2016 Reddit back if that site is going to continue cannibalizing forums.

I would love to see somebody like Musk buying Reddit, not because I would expect it to get any better, but I just imagine all the salt and the possible leaks about moderation and the staff.

 

[Tequila Jong]

Search engines now are fucking terrible. You can use boolean to filter out websites, but either the sites themselves find ways to circumvent it, or the search engines themselves are just useless. Related to that, I didn't realise just how terrible YouTube had gotten. I was trying to search for a video from years back with no luck - the title was in a different language so I assumed I spelled it wrong. I added the suffix "before:2011" and there it was, first result.

This led to me having quite good fun just searching for random things from 2006 - 2009. There's videos there that people have uploaded that I remember from 2003. I used to make fun of AMVs SO MUCH LINKIN PARK and how terrible they were, but seeing them all there preserved in all their triteness warmed my heart a little bit.

 

[GeorgeFloydFentanylStash]

Search engines now are fucking terrible. You can use boolean to filter out websites, but either the sites themselves find ways to circumvent it, or the search engines themselves are just useless. Related to that, I didn't realise just how terrible YouTube had gotten. I was trying to search for a video from years back with no luck - the title was in a different language so I assumed I spelled it wrong. I added the suffix "before:2011" and there it was, first result.

This led to me having quite good fun just searching for random things from 2006 - 2009. There's videos there that people have uploaded that I remember from 2003. I used to make fun of AMVs SO MUCH LINKIN PARK and how terrible they were, but seeing them all there preserved in all their triteness warmed my heart a little bit.

One of my recent pet peeves with youtube is that i’ll be scrolling for a specific topic I’ve searched for on YouTube. And right in the middle has several videos for shorts and Videos Other People Have Watched not related to what i’m looking for.

Really been fed up with YouTube recently that i only have a handful of people i watch and will just go to their channels i’ve bookmarked to watch the latest.