Stop injecting Adware into your damn apps.

[NicoTheCinderace]

This issue was previously deleted, which is extremely shady.

So I'll say it again: Stop injecting Adware.

[NicoTheCinderace]

We did not consent to Adware being injected, and it's a clear violation of Firefox and Google's policies for Add-Ons/Extensions.

[Clawthorn]

Adding my voice to this issue as well.

I was thoroughly confused why Google/YouTube was telling me that they've "crafted something you might like".

No, turns out it was this extension. Modifying my HTML without telling me, and without my explicit permission. And what's worse is, you made message seem like it was coming from an official source (Google) when it was not. What's next? Modifying the subscribe button to redirect to your channel? Injecting your videos into my feed? Adding your own ads to the start of each video?

No thank you. Absolutely disgraceful behavior.

[Clawthorn]

And for anyone confused, this what the "ad" looks like:

[Clawthorn]

This is the commit that introduced this nonsense: https://github.com/avi12/youtube-auto-hd/commit/357679eb1f7c7993f055d5754a8f81f6dbd5748b

Please undo that change. Or update your addon description to make it clear that people will be seeing advertisements. Or at the very least add your name to the damn box, so it doesn't look like an official recommendation by Google/YouTube.

[NicoTheCinderace]

And for anyone confused, this what the "ad" looks like:

Offtopic, but Based Hazbin Hotel enjoyer.

[NicoTheCinderace]

This is the commit that introduced this nonsense: 357679e

Please undo that change. Or update your addon description to make it clear that people will be seeing advertisements. Or at the very least add your name to the damn box, so it doesn't look like an official recommendation by Google/YouTube.

They were quick to delete the other issue when I brought this up previously.

Either they delete this, or we might have to fork this extension without the bullshit.

[Clawthorn]

This is the commit that introduced this nonsense: 357679e Please undo that change. Or update your addon description to make it clear that people will be seeing advertisements. Or at the very least add your name to the damn box, so it doesn't look like an official recommendation by Google/YouTube.

They were quick to delete the other issue when I brought this up previously.

Either they delete this, or we might have to fork this extension without the bullshit.

I would strongly suggest making a backup of this issue on archive.org, so that if they delete it, you can include the archive link to Mozilla when reporting this addon. That way they have proof that the author is in fact trying to hide the addon policy violations. 🙂

[NicoTheCinderace]

This is the commit that introduced this nonsense: 357679e Please undo that change. Or update your addon description to make it clear that people will be seeing advertisements. Or at the very least add your name to the damn box, so it doesn't look like an official recommendation by Google/YouTube.

They were quick to delete the other issue when I brought this up previously. Either they delete this, or we might have to fork this extension without the bullshit.

I would strongly suggest making a backup of this issue on archive.org, so that if they delete it, you can include the archive link to Mozilla when reporting this addon. That way they have proof that the author is in fact trying to hide the addon policy violations. 🙂

Perfect. I've done just that. If they delete it again, I'm not only going to report this to Mozilla and Chrome, but also to Github as well. Adware is against their TOS.

[brasky]

I donated $25 during the last megathread about selling viewing data to advertisers, so I'm not just some freeloader here to complain. Now I'm back because I just got this promotion and was really confused. I honestly thought maybe I had malware until I figured out where the link went and that it was associated with this plugin.

As convenient as this plugin is, this is the second time I am here due to this kind of drama, the last one being October 2023 just a few months ago... No other plugin developer is doing this kind of thing...

[clmnin]

I am all for the developer promoting his work. This seems like him trying to let his users know he has a new browser extension out. But there should a non intrusive way to let us know how we can support you.

A few suggestions

1. Add a don't show this again button
2. Make it explicit this injected div is from YT-auto-HD
3. Make the wordings clear - say support YT-auto-HD dev by checking out his other projects or something

[OkiStuff]

I am all for the developer promoting his work. This seems like him trying to let his users know he has a new browser extension out. But there should a non intrusive way to let us know how we can support you.

A few suggestions

1. Add a don't show this again button
2. Make it explicit this injected div is from YT-auto-HD
3. Make the wordings clear - say support YT-auto-HD dev by checking out his other projects or something

This seems like the most practical compromise. The developer is allowed to promote his work but also give an opt-out for the user. The extension drop-down can also be used as a place for promotion with minimal intrusion. IE:

This is an extension I use on the regular and it gives very unintrusive prompts to the user to rate his work and donate.

I would not go as far as @Clawthorn did by calling it "disgraceful behavior" but I can 100% see where the frustration is coming from.

[avi12]

The extension drop-down can also be used as a place for promotion with minimal intrusion. IE:

Injecting an advertisement in the extension pop-up is a valid approach, except that YTHD's type is "Install and forget", and therefore only newcomers will see the advertisement

I plan to slightly modify the advertisement message like so:

[zazahunter]

Hi,

How about you don't put any ads is it that hard? We are using your product because we need the feature not to get ads from your other products. I think everyone agrees with me that its stupid and should not be there in the first place.

[avi12]

Look, I don't make money off of my software (except for one-time donations off of YTHD, which isn't sustaintable), nor do I have a full-time job right now So the least I can do is advertise stuff that I worked on that I plan to monetize in the future

[avi12]

I applied the aforementioned styling in 1.8.16

[Clawthorn]

So the least I can do is advertise stuff that I worked on that I plan to monetize in the future

No, the least you can do is let people know that the addon will be modified to include advertisements before you add them. Or add an off-by-default toggle where people can allow you to show advertisements if they want to support you.

Sneaking in that stuff after-the-fact is malware behavior, regardless of the reasoning behind it. And people certainly don't appreciate it, as you can see by the 1 star reviews that have started appearing on your addon pages.

[clmnin]

@Clawthorn @zazahunter The dev has the right to link you to other stuff they've built. It's a link YOU have to click. It does not do anything on its own. It has a Don't show again button. The dev gets to choose if they wish to monetize the software they write. This does not break any browser extension store policies.

Some might find it annoying, but most people will either click the 'Don't show again' button or check out the developer's other products. So, calm down.

You can always sideload this extension. Do that and pull changes as and when you need them

[devKingMe]

@Clawthorn @zazahunter I agree with @clmnin: the dev has the right to link you to other stuff they've built. It's a free product you're using and they get to choose if they wish to monetize the software they write

[devKingMe]

@Clawthorn The 1-star reviews are mainly because the ad had not been disclosed at the beginning and people felt deceived. If they disclose the source of the ad and give you the option to permanently snooze it, you should consider also their side of the story. It takes time to build beautiful software that solves a problem, and that time has the right to be compensated in some way (even if it's showing you a clear, dismissable advertisement)

[NicoTheCinderace]

Look, I don't make money off of my software (except for one-time donations off of YTHD, which isn't sustaintable), nor do I have a full-time job right now So the least I can do is advertise stuff that I worked on that I plan to monetize in the future

You did not disclose the ads at the beginning, and have therefore, deceived your audience. I wouldn't have any issues if it was like @OkiStuff presented. But instead, you chose to inject it into YouTube itself, which I strongly object to, and I still consider this to be Adware. Unless you move the ad to inside the dropdown menu for the add-on itself, you've permanently driven me away from you and any of your future add-ons.

Disappointed, but not surprised.

[OkiStuff]

The extension drop-down can also be used as a place for promotion with minimal intrusion. IE:

Injecting an advertisement in the extension pop-up is a valid approach, except that YTHD's type is "Install and forget", and therefore only newcomers will see the advertisement

I plan to slightly modify the advertisement message like so:

This seems like a perfect compromise to me.

[avi12]

Look, I don't make money off of my software (except for one-time donations off of YTHD, which isn't sustaintable), nor do I have a full-time job right now So the least I can do is advertise stuff that I worked on that I plan to monetize in the future

You did not disclose the ads at the beginning, and have therefore, deceived your audience. I wouldn't have any issues if it was like @OkiStuff presented. But instead, you chose to inject it into YouTube itself, which I strongly object to, and I still consider this to be Adware. Unless you move the ad to inside the dropdown menu for the add-on itself, you've permanently driven me away from you and any of your future add-ons.

Disappointed, but not surprised.

@NicoTheCinderace At the time of designing the ad, I did not fully think it through. I thought that the user would figure that the message is associated with YTHD, but this issue proved me wrong As I stated earlier today, I changed the ad's wording to make it clear that it's associated with YTHD (the update is pending at the time of commenting)

[NicoTheCinderace]

Look, I don't make money off of my software (except for one-time donations off of YTHD, which isn't sustaintable), nor do I have a full-time job right now So the least I can do is advertise stuff that I worked on that I plan to monetize in the future

You did not disclose the ads at the beginning, and have therefore, deceived your audience. I wouldn't have any issues if it was like @OkiStuff presented. But instead, you chose to inject it into YouTube itself, which I strongly object to, and I still consider this to be Adware. Unless you move the ad to inside the dropdown menu for the add-on itself, you've permanently driven me away from you and any of your future add-ons. Disappointed, but not surprised.

@NicoTheCinderace At the time of designing the ad, I did not fully think it through. I thought that the user would figure that the message is associated with YTHD, but this issue proved me wrong As I stated earlier today, I changed the ad's wording to make it clear that it's associated with YTHD (the update is pending at the time of commenting)

I suppose that's a good start.

[avi12]

I get it that you hate ads I have a borderline for what kind of ad to display. No matter how much a company pays me, I'll never put a sponsored ad. Moreover, over the past few months, I've been emailed by multiple companies about a partnership to put up an ad but I refused However, I do believe that self-advertisement is fine

[NicoTheCinderace]

I get it that you hate ads I have a borderline for what kind of ad to display. No matter how much the company pays me, I'll never put a sponsored ad. Moreover, over the past few months, I've been emailed by multiple companies about a partnership to put up an ad but I refused However, I do believe that self-advertisement is fine

I don't disagree that self-advertisement is fine. It's just the way it came off that I took issue with. It almost made me suspect that I had Adware installed on the system.