[Leaplist] someone is trying to block FireFox

[Steve Litt]

On Friday 17 August 2007 20:02, Chris wrote:
> Ray Brunkow wrote:
> > http://whyfirefoxisblocked.com/
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> > You've reached this page because the site you were trying to visit now
> > blocks the FireFox browser.
> >
> > All I said to him on the phone was that without FireFox and extensions
> > like AdBlock Plus customers are susceptible to attacks from the
> > mal/spy/adware that many adservers install on customers computers
> > without permissions.  At that point he commented something about
> > people not reading the full page, and yes I have a few times, and ran
> > off due to his server crashing.  I wished him luck and to reconsider
> > his actions.
> >
> > More contact from the community might be a good thing.
>
> Doubtful. Let's look at the context - this web genius is supporting
> his wife and four kids from a mobile home. From a mobile home
> in Catoosa, Oklahoma. He apparently thinks FrontPage is the way
> real pros build sites. Lesseee - he's utterly clueless about the
> very real legal definition of "theft". He's also utterly clueless about
> the many ways to block advertising - even in Windows using IE.
>
> He's got a bad business model, and an abundance of ignorance.
> More contact won't sort that out. Only Darwin can.

I look at it a little differently. This American Entrapeneur is trying, the 
best way he knows how, to support his wife and four kids. Unlike so much of 
our country's large-living, -2% savings rate people, this guy is doing his 
best to match expenses within income in the mobile home in Catoosa, OK.

His business proposition is that he'll give you free content if you look at 
his ads. I see his point. Heck, Troubleshooters.Com operates on a similar 
business proposition, except that the ads are for my own products and they're 
not graphical. 

He has every right to block looky-loos who will never buy. Try hanging around 
a car dealership day after day without purchasing, and see how welcome they 
make you feel. Try sitting in a restaraunt the whole day without buying, and 
see what happens.

The comment about theft is stupid hyperbole, but it doesn't change the fact 
that he's got every right to do what he's doing. I commend him for at least 
trying -- lesser men would give up and go on welfare.

My preceding four paragraphs defending his actions assume they're his actions 
and not Microsoft's. Microsoft has a history of paying professional writers 
to write letters to the editor simulating grassroots support of Windows. I 
would not put it past Microsoft to pay webmasters to screen out Mozilla. If 
Microsoft is paying this guy, I have a lot less sympathy for him.

I'd also have a lot less symptathy for him if IE has its own ad-blocker. I 
don't know -- does IE have its own ad-blocker?

SteveT
 
Steve Litt
Author: Universal Troubleshooting Process books and courseware
http://www.troubleshooters.com/