Closed ParticleCore closed 7 years ago
You should not do that without warning your users with a window or something, otherwise it's a malware. Do you plan to add it in the user script as well or only the extension ?
I'll probably stop using Iridium in the event mining software is added.
What happened to developers making an addon purely out of the goodness of their hearts in their free time ? You know - because it would be useful for you and the people. A hobby doesn't necessarily mean you need to make a profit. If you're not happy with the time you spend on it because you're losing money by not getting a real job because of the time needed - don't do it. Someone else might do it in their free time. I'll never use your product now. Good day.
How to destroy your userbase and/or trigger a fork in one fell swoop.
I understand that this may sound like a good idea. Computers usually have cycles to spare, you don't have to show annoying ads to your users, and you make a small profit out of it. However, just imagine for a second that coin miners become a common thing. A user would easily have a handful or even a dozen of coin mining threads running, which would quickly deteriorate overall performance and decimate battery life. Please, don't set this trend.
What if the user (like me) are on a laptop, wouldn't this reduce the battery life dramatically? Watching YouTube is already power intensive for laptops, but when the video is not playing the battery is draining, you can see how this would impact users using laptops.
I would support this decision if, and only if, it is guaranteed to be an opt-in feature in it's final release. Though I would definitely not like coin miners to become a norm.
No thank you, I move to maia-yt (when it's ready) rather if this happens.
I noticed you have a Patreon (I think you should advertise donation options better IMO), I consider putting some money, but only if you drop the mining idea.
Rather than do this coin miner thing you should nag people for donations. Maybe a page that opens on every update. This has the benefit to show people how much work you put into this addon.
Maybe we should petition Mozilla to add the option for paid premium addons. Devs have a reasonable expectation to be compensated for their work and a donation button is not enough for that. Food for thought.
This is a sure fire way to destroy any good will you've had with your community and userbase and instantly destroy your credibility as a developer. I understand the desire to monetize your hard work but this is not the way to do it. A lot of the community have already moved away from your addon because you sold the chrome extension to a 3rd party and didn't inform anyone until after it was turned into malware.
At best you'll succeed in creating better competition to your addon, or at worst, someone will just steal your code and take the miner out of it, drawing away your entire user base.
Consider an update page after each major change with a donate link. Consider (strictly opt in) telemetry with an explanation of what is data is sent. Consider adding a support link that directs the user to a paid advertisment, as per free games with advertising allow you to do to support them.
Sure way to lose the lion's share of the audience. At least it must be opt-in and off by default, but it's naive to believe that the author will agree to this.
I would be fine with this if the following conditions were met: 1) The ability to opt-out of the coin miner is included. 2) As soon as the extension is loaded for the first time, a clear (possibly modal) message is displayed describing the functionality of the coin miner and how it helps you develop the extension. 3) A clear opt-out button is included in the afformentioned message.
FWIW I would not opt-out of such a thing.
@TheFinalCut83 what do you mean by "it's naive to believe that the author will agree to this"? This thread was opened by the script's author himself.
This is one incredibly stupid move if you go through with it, I don't care if it's optional or opt-out, I don't want this add-on to become bloated with even more lines of miner code, even if it is inactive just sitting there. Hope this kind of stuff never finds a way onto AMO.
I would consider this to be an "opt-in" feature instead of an "opt-out".
I think at the very least you should consider advertising Patreon and Paypal on the Iridium Settings page before resorting to such measures.
Not everyone comes to Github to follow up on updates/issues, so an announcement section on the settings page is probably a good idea as well.
@surashu it was about "at least it must be opt-in and off by default", but something tells me that if the author wants to add a miner, it intends to enable by default.
I am glad to see a lot more users input about this, I appreciate everyone cluing in and showing how they feel about having a feature like this in some way and having it at all.
This is a tricky situation, as I tried to explain, because I have already looked at other alternatives and expressed my position about them.
I am perfectly OK with having this feature opt-in only (which is how it should be), but the goal is to check the results of this trial run to see if this feature is even worth having, it might end up not being worth having at all, and having it enabled by default will yield more users participating than the other way around.
As I understand there are users that are against having this at all, meaning that even if the feature was added and made opt-in only, they are still against it, which makes this even more problematic to deal with, but others are OK with having it, as long as it is opt-in.
Adding a feature like this would obviously be clearly informed to the user in a modal window as soon as it was updated, or perhaps I should start considering an update info page dedicated to things like this, just like @BubiBalboa and @Morphello suggested.
Let's see, how about this, to make things clear and better (the main concern) as best as I can:
Regarding the concerns of battery brought up by @alphachung , this would only run on a computer with no battery (desktop PC) or only while the computer is charging (laptop). This will NOT run on a mobile platform, such as tablets, regardless of their battery status.
@mooms06 This would be available throughout all the versions, if it works at all, but not before the trial run results
@Timvde I see your point and would be a troublesome situation indeed, but this would always be an option that users can turn off/on whenever they want to, at least anything made by me it will be.
And the "better" allternative is to "nag" users for donations? I really hate that and I am sure that others will hate it too, but that's not even the core problem. The main problem here is to see if this option is actually viable, because it might not be worth having at all and be discarded, which is why it is important to test it and see how it pans out.
@Azraelle moot point. If it has ads it gets marked as "RiskWare.Adware", if it has donation requests it gets marked as "RiskWare.Nagware", etc.
Regardless, that is not the focus of this issue, but I do appreciate that concern.
Are you fucking retarded? If you can't keep doing this completely free, give it up. I hope idiots will stop downloading this addon, regardless of an opt-in/out option. Nagware? Coinminer? Coin miner is 10x worse, you will be ruining the battery and making it impossible for people who aren't computer savvy in the least on old computers. You are shameless. Do you not feel like scum even talking about this? If it's too much of a problem for it to not be profitable for you, then give it up and let the free market take over, you've been useful for the time being but you are replaceable, goodbye. Btw, even considering any of this KILLS any chance with Linux users since they are much more intelligent when it comes to this crap and have zero tolerance on retardation. Good job.
@ybnrmalatall This issue was not opened to post insults. Further behavior like that will result in the respective users being blocked permanently.
No one here is forcing you to use anything and the feature hasn't been implemented at all. If you don't like that this is being discussed then you can stop using the userscript, leave this repository and use any other extension that does what you want.
I've made it pretty clear that I don't care about being blocked as I am already done with your userscript on principle alone. I find you disgusting now. Good riddance.
I've made it pretty clear that I don't care about being blocked
You actually didn't, not even after you edited your reply to add more insults, but now you made it pretty clear. Stay well.
I don't get why there's a need to be slinging insults in an otherwise level-headed discussion thread.
@ybnrmalatall
you will be ruining the battery and making it impossible for people who aren't computer savvy in the least on old computers.
Clearly not impossible if its an opt-in feature, you're just being reactionary. Don't let your emotions control you like that and think rationally.
The main post has been updated with the feature design in order to make it easier for new comers to grasp the overall idea at glance. This design can change over time according to the discussion. I plan on going forward with the trial run after 1 week (starting on October 1st) with the duration of 1 month (can also be shorter, depending on how things go). This discussion will stay open until then. The goal is to have a decent insight of the trial run before moving to release stage, which I want to be on November, but, again, this might change depending on the development of the extension.
If you are determined to put this method of monetisation in your product, you must frame it strictly from a volunteer and "helping the developer" standpoint. "Default on" trials are not the way to do it. Even as a test, people will be quick to forget what is going on, notice their browser eating up CPU cycles and panic.
You must staunchly ask your userbase (in a popup update page) if they like they addon and if they are willing to donate their CPU time to you. Explain the situation, explain what they can do to help. A lot of people would be more than willing to donate idle CPU time if it can directly translate into making the addon better. A lot of people simply wouldn't. I personally would personally go to ad generating links, white list popups with ad displays and specifically click and follow through adlinks to maximize the revenue for the developer. I would also provide detailed bug reports with as much information as I can to help developers eliminate bugs. I would not personally donate CPU cycles because where I live, I pay 43c USD per kWh in power and it would cost me far more in power than an actual donation would.
People are more than willing to donate their time, effort and money to a good cause. Look at all the CPU power that gets donated to Folding@Home. You just need more awareness and to come at the problem from a humble position. Also keep in mind that you aren't trying to cure cancer or other diseases, you've written an addon to provide extra functionality to an existing platform. Every bit of functionality you have can be found in other addons, you're just one of the better options at the moment.
@Morphello I had already posted an updated design of the feature in the main post at the top covering basically all that you've said, but with bulletpoints, and I understand that there are users which CPU time is not something cheap. The message itself is not a priority right now seeing that this is suppose to be a trial run, the only thing it will inform is just that and an explanation for why the trial is taking place. If it works out, then a proper message will be created for the purpose of final integration.
Ads are not a viable option for 3 main reasons, basically: 1) I hate ads and I do not trust them at all 2) I am certain the Chrome Webstore would never allow it 3) I am almost certain AMO wouldn't either
I approached this idea from my POV as a user and I would rather have an option to donate CPU time in exchange for ads on websites, paywalls or subscription services. When comparing it to the donations I concluded that it would be worth giving it a try.
I am fully aware that I am not doing clinical research here and I know very well what this extension is, I have been saying it since I created YT+, it is not a replacement for anything, it is just another option for anyone that wants what it offers.
But again, this is not final integration, it is just a trial run. It might even show that it is not worth it, which is what I am expecting after having read plenty of testimonies from others that tried the same, in which case it is removed from the extension.
unacceptable, you just killed your userbase and the only people who will still use this are brainless loyalists or people who are simply unaware that you are planning to place malicious crap into their browsers. Good riddance to your greed, I'm moving onto enhancer for youtube at least they claim that they respect user privacy unlike you. Embarrassing to be honest...
at least they claim that they respect user privacy unlike you
I use Google Analytics to analyse traffic on my website, and also use third party advertisements. Some of these advertisers may use technologies such as cookies and web beacons when they advertise on my website, which will also send these advertisers (such as Google through the Google AdSense program) non-personally identifiable information including your IP address, your ISP, the browser you used to visit my website, and in some cases, whether you have Flash® installed or not.
I also may use DART cookies for ad serving through Google’s DoubleClick, which places a cookie on your browser when you are browsing the web and visit a website using DoubleClick advertising (including some Google AdSense advertisements).
https://www.mrfdev.com/privacy
I have 0 telemetry in the extension or anywhere, for that matter. There's no privacy concerns to begin with, but if their word is far more valuable to you than not having any privacy concerns at all then good for you, and if their software is better for you then good for you too. The objective is for us to have the better experience on YouTube, be it with this extension or another, it is your choice to make every single time.
However, I will not allow any further lies claiming that I intend to place malicious "crap" to the users of this extension when I have been crystal clear about this even before it has been integrated and explained exactly everything that I intend to do.
If more users want to create a new account just to say that they are no longer using this extension, don't, this issue is not for your farewells.
It's not a hobby if your goal is to make profit.
@ParticleCore Just here to voice my support for you.
At the end of the day, everybody has to make a living. Yes, of course, it's a very beautiful thing when somebody dedicates their time and energy for the community for free, but not everybody is able to do that all the time. If we wanna embrace hippieness, why not start by being compassionate and understanding towards the creators and maintainers of the tools we like? They have their own obligations, life, hopes, and dreams outside this one project.
It's a shame that the discussion has morphed into arguing whether or not you should make money at all. I find it much more productive to discuss whether this particular method you're choosing is the most optimal.
On that note, I'd rather you take a small portion of my processing power for the duration of using your tool than you selling my browsing/watching history or eye-blasting me with annoying ads. If done in a smart and considerate way (minimal impact on my usage of the machine), then by all means go for it. Inform me, give me an option to disable it, and don't make my machine slow.
@Tsutsukakushi hobby and profit is not mutually exclusive, both can co-exist. The line only ends when the hobby changes into a business. This feature would just enable users to contribute in a different way other than with money, but if semantics is what is bothering you then interpret in any way you want, just not here because this issue is not for that subject. Let's keep the discussion focused on the main objective.
@adiov I really appreciate those words. The goal is to not disrupt the user experience on the website, which is why the feature will have included options to tweak the miner in case the default settings are having a negative impact.
@abba23 The change is not even integrated yet, the trial run is to take place before developing the Firefox Addon version, meaning that it will only be available in userscript. As for the browser performance, I have already detailed that the users will have the ability to tweak how much the miner can work and, in case the lowest settings are still too much (some computers might be too weak to handle it in any way) the users can always disable it.
It won't be enabled by default, so this will be a user conscious choice which does not violate the AMO policies. Were it to be enabled by default then that would be against policy, but even before coming to that this needs to be tested to see if it is even worth keeping it, otherwise it will be removed.
@abba23 It has become clear that your interest in this discussion is not honest, in which case I ask you to stop insisting on discussing the AMO policies when they aren't even a concern at this time, as I already explained in my previous reply. The policies will be enforced by the AMO team -not you- when the time comes, regardless of this feature staying or not. You explain that you are only referring to the AMO extension, but there is none yet and this issue was not opened to discuss about the AMO extension.
Please return to the focus of this issue, or cease this if you are not interested. There are plenty of users receiving email updates of this thread each time you post a new reply, which can become very annoying if the updates are unrelated to the issue at hand.
The line only ends when the hobby changes into a business.
If you wouldn't continue it because it's not profitable it's a business, not a hobby.
@Tsutsukakushi I have already been clear about that subject and I have been working on the previous project for close to 3 years with essentially 0 profit; I am still here. I would appreciate if you were to return to the actual discussion of this issue, if you actually want to continue participating, and stop arguing about what you believe to be or not to be a hobby according to your own standards. There are other proper places where you can discuss your "ifs" and assumptions, this is not one of them.
And to stop current and other users from wasting more time of people actually interested in discussing the main subject, any further derailing will be interpreted as a user that is only interested in disrupting the discussion, and that user will be blocked permanently.
If there are users that want to circlejerk then go to Reddit.
I would gladly opt into this but seeing how other people react without even thinking is upsetting. I believe that you could have a paid and free version, The paid version being a way to donate a one-time fee, no extra features and be thanked in some sort of credits.
I would gladly opt into this but seeing how other people react without even thinking is upsetting. I believe that you could have a paid and free version, The paid version being a way to donate a one-time fee, no extra features and be thanked in some sort of credits.
The problem with schemes like the one you described is that very few people are actually willing to pay for software they use; voluntary donations very rarely amount to anything even close to e.g. ad revenues. Donating CPU cycles instead of money seems like a fair tradeoff (and much more likely to happen than donations), and a better choice than ads which can get fairly intrusive.
@ORBAT very likely managed to explain in the best way possible why I am even considering implementing this option in the first place, thank you.
EDIT: To be clear, I am not assuming that you are OK with it, just that your explanation is on point.
I'm mostly concerned about the precedent this will set. Sure one or two developers doing it will be manageable but what happens when everyone and their grandmas who are working on a userscript or add-on want a piece of that cryptocoin pie too?
@surashu that is not the focus of this issue, but it is indeed a concern and has already happened, people are abusing it for some time and coin miners are already earning their place in ad-blocking lists. There is nothing stopping them from unaware visitors, but I chose one that allows great control to the user as well as the ability to easily define rules based on already running instances in other tabs:
The optional mode parameter specifies how the miner should behave if a miner in another tab is already running.
https://coin-hive.com/documentation/miner#miner-start
If this is the moment it becomes a precedent in this context then I hope that it sets a good precedent, including the option for it to be disabled whenever the user wants and vouch for not having a negative impact on the overall user experience.
Just 2 cents:
a) If you ask, I'll say no. I have had folding@home for a while trying to help a noble cause and it killed my hardware. The CPU was fine, but the GPU wasn't meant to be used this long on a consumer card. Ever since, I am wary of people saying "it's spare cycles". It's power, heat, stress and a chance to fail plus the definite lifespan hit.
b) If you add mining, I'm going to assume it was worth it and any goodwill that you may have had towards Patreon will be gone. I'm not saying I'm right, I'm saying it's what a lot of people will think. I'm never going to donate to someone that has ads, I'm never going to support a YouTuber that shills for merch, etc, etc. No double dipping.
c) If you want to just monetize this, then there are options. If you want to monetize AND maintain the goodwill of the people using the (in my case) script, then you have hit a barrier. An addon is something people don't like to keep paying on. I don't need a contract for every single thing I do, especially addons and mods, since many people have dozens of them. Any transaction that people would be willing to send your way monthly would be trivial and get buried by taxes and fees.
Which is why I think that (even though the mining was a good idea on principle) you are kinda sorta out of luck on this one with microtransactions.
You could (and feel free to laugh at these ideas)
a) Sell it. Leave the core features free (autoplay, etc) and only give the lots-of-work features for cash. A one time sale of $1.99 buys you the premium addon with guaranteed updates for at least 2 years. I'd pay a decent two bucks as support to you IF I'm getting something back. As a free, I do what I want when I want project you ain't getting cash. And I feel like users could give you 1 or 2 bucks if it's a one time payment. We don't need to bring Patreon into this.
Besides, if not enough people pay, you could simply not support the more heavily maintained features. After a while. How people are going to take not having all the features is another issue. Feathers will be ruffled either way.
b) Bundle up. Talk to one or a few other people that do a good addon, make sure they are compatible, and do a bundle development. If your Iridium partners up with Youtube Black (not a real addon) and Youtube Better Comments (not a real addon) then you can develop faster as the work is spread and then you could put this suite up for a dollar a month on Patreon, with the profits divvied up. You could get more people to contribute.
Now, I don't know how much you want to make from this, these ideas may be a shot in the dark. For example, I don't think any of these are going to make you around 1000 USD a month, in any shape or form. You may be down to mining, assuming you have the userbase and assuming the people who would kill a person that allowed "acceptable ads" are OK with mining.
If your aim is "a nice cup of coffee in the morning" then I think your best bet would be the bundle.
I am, personally, against nagware. I hate addons that open tabs so much that I would, if I could, flip a switch that kills the ability of an addon to open links. When update time comes, my browser explodes in 10-15 new tabs. It is one of the reasons I left Firefox (Pale Moon now). I guard against adware to have my adware delivered. It's so upsetting to me that I have blocked the domains of the people doing that; at least they stop calling home.
I don't think a dollar a month is reasonable for an addon. If everyone did that, I'd owe 100 bucks a month to Patreon and that's unacceptable by an order of magnitude. I'd never pay for mods. I would be OK with paying a sum to NexusMods and let them do whatever they feel like it. I run 219 mods on FO4. I am not paying 219 dollars for them.
Yes, I am aware this is a needlessly long post. My tub is filling up.
@IMNdi a ) It uses CPU only, no GPU, but this does not eliminate the same concerns, however those are only valid if the mining tool is run on "fast speeds", this is not meant to run that way, otherwise it would have a negative impact on browser experience.
b ) It is optional, off by default. It is another way that users can contribute if they don't have or want to give money away. It is also going to be a trial run to see if it is actually worth it.
c.a ) It is not a compatible model if I intend to publish on AMO, which I do.
c.b ) That would be interesting, really, but the little free time I have would not let this reach anything anytime soon.
I am, personally, against nagware.
I know the feeling, which is why I tried my best to not do it over the almost 3 years I have been behind the projects. I honestly would be perfectly fine if people chipped in $0.1 every month, but the available channels eat it up with commissions and whatnot, and not everyone has or wants to, which is why we are at this point.
Regardless, thanks for the dedication on your reply, it does give something to think about.
Please no. I'm using extensions and scripts to avoid having ads and annoying stuffs like that. Adding a coin miner will just destroy the whole reason.
I know you're doing hard work, and you need profit from it.
I suggest 2 ways:
Either way, I probably gonna pay. But please think about pricing. Under 10$ and promising to update is a win-win for all of us.
@jackblk Please read the first post and the indexed replies, the alternatives you suggested have already been discussed and explained why they aren't viable. This option is also going to be optional, the user will have to enable it for it to work, it will not be on by default.
@ParticleCore Thanks for the reply. Sorry for not reading them all, I just read few of them, so bear with me :P.
After reading more, I think I'm supportive for your choice, but there will be people not understanding. I hope you a nice day :D.
Passing thought.
I think Patreon allows for a per-delivery payment, so one can pay $1 or $2 every X months and group it. For example, you could set up a per-delivery payment of $1 and deliver yearly or something.
Patreon takes 5%, so with transaction fees it's like 70-80 cents to a dollar.
It's up to you to decide if you want to go insta-cash or pledge and then get yearly infusion based on accumulated good will. Depends on the frequency of updates and the amount of bugfixes, I guess. Happier customers are more likely to pledge and leave it on (delayed payment) IMO whereas instant-pay protects against people changing their minds.
@IMNdi Thanks for the suggestion, but the problem with that is that almost no one has Patreon or are willing to or have the possibility to send money. This option would allow those users that want to contribute, but can't.
Posting an update to the scheduled start of the trial run, I might go forward with it before October 1st, maybe tomorrow or September 30th, I want to have more free time on the weekend to dedicate to bug fixes and other issues I found during this integration.
Coin miner? That's malware. Time to fork this script.
This ties a bit with #149 since I really dislike the idea to profit from telemetry, but I also need to find a way to make this hobby profitable.
I intend to add a coin miner together with the extension for a trial run to see if it is even worth it. Although I might change my mind about this later, initially this will be enabled by default because I assume that the current user base is too small to spare the "extra hand" in order to achieve a reliable projection of this trial. Nevertheless it would have an option to disable and control the number of threads it can use.
At the moment I have been studying the available options and so far it seems that coin hive is the best option overall.
The plan is to:
I also understand how this feels like a stupid idea, but I do not have any means to make any profit that is worth the time I am dedicating to this extension, and I need to understand if this will be worth while before investing it for the stable release, which I am planning to reach before October starts, although I might have to push that date a bit further, unfortunately.
I only ask that any upset users understand my position, I am trying to make this profitable without making this a pay-to-use extension, and I am not finding a lot of options. I have looked through ads (I hate it and most likely wouldn't work), selling telemetry (I don't like the idea) and now mining currency, which appears to be a good option.
This goes without saying; if donations do improve with the aging of the extension, this or any other method for profiting would be halted seeing that they would no longer be needed, however the past almost 3 years showed that this wasn't something that would be achieved any time soon.
I would really appreciate constructive feedback as well as alternatives to coin hive, if you know of better options, or another option to make this extension profitable.
EDIT 1: adding an index of my replies here as a follow up of this post
https://github.com/ParticleCore/Iridium/issues/189#issuecomment-331713912 https://github.com/ParticleCore/Iridium/issues/189#issuecomment-331723510 https://github.com/ParticleCore/Iridium/issues/189#issuecomment-331748125 https://github.com/ParticleCore/Iridium/issues/189#issuecomment-331893366 https://github.com/ParticleCore/Iridium/issues/189#issuecomment-331927662 https://github.com/ParticleCore/Iridium/issues/189#issuecomment-332127099 https://github.com/ParticleCore/Iridium/issues/189#issuecomment-332299057 https://github.com/ParticleCore/Iridium/issues/189#issuecomment-332988550
EDIT 2: adding updating feature design for easier insight