Firefox totally screwed me

Add-ons
#1

I have used Firefox for over 20 years but moments ago Firefox screwed my in the worst possible way !! Suddenly with no warning, Themes disappeared and made working with the denuded page nigh unto impossible. No forewarning has been given and this is dictatorial. I hate this Mozilla, you now offer only a few themes and they all suck so bad I would never think of putting anything like it on my page.

Explain your creepy selves to us who are blown out by your unilateral actions that destroyed the entire view of FF. I finally after all these years am looking to find a new browser. It’s not like there isn’t a lot of new choices available. Why did you do this without a heads up for all your users?

I am at a loss to describe the actual anger I feel toward whoever approved this debacle but I have a feeling that nitwit is hiding under his/her/its desk.

1 Like
#2

Hey @Lightninbug, I totally understand where you are coming from. This has been caused by a certificate issue. We’re currently working on a fix and will be providing updates on this thread: Certificate issue causing add-ons to be disabled or fail to install

1 Like
#3

Here Too…
WTF !!!
I am about to give up on Firefox, and just go with TOR.

#4

And what makes Mozilla believe that Mozilla is entitled to modify the software running on my hardware without my explicit consent on a case by case basis?

You did your good action of the day when you warned me about the dangers and you shouldn’t do more if I, regardless, decided to install that shady extension downloaded from the worst site in the deep web; once I accepted the risk, no external source has any right to remotely disable it without asking me first (unless you are my country’s law enforcer).

So, always ask first!

“Hey user, your installed junk’s certificate suddenly became invalid, so its highly recommended to disable it, would you like for Firefox to disable it for you so you can stay safe? Yes/No”

It is very commendable wanting to keep your users safe and away from all dangers, but you know what? Ultimately, your users, aren’t yours; they are only people that use the tools you made, therefore the decision to stay safe or not is not yours, it belongs to each individual.

This patronizing attitude that tech companies (and developers) had embraced in the last decade is unnerving and even more, very unhealthy. As Doctorow said when talking about Firefox including support for DRM media back in 2014: "a free and open infrastructure is incompatible with the idea that owners of computers are treated as untrusted by those computers".

Mozilla is the referent when it comes to ethics and human values in the tech world (after RMS of course), but damn, guys. Some times you really get too close to the borderline, and I know it comes out of goodwill, but still, it is too close for comfort.

So, It’s awesome that you are working hard on fixing that certificate problem, I have no doubt that you will handle it in a timely manner. But please, after that’s done, fix that patronizing attitude too.

#5

I don’t mean to be rude, but this is one of the most absurd and entitled things I’ve heard today.

It’s not unheard of at this point for software to update itself automatically - games like Overwatch download new patches whenever the client is booted up, without any verification as to whether or not the user actually wants that download. By using Firefox as a browser, you’re also accepting that they may occasionally make security decision to protect you and your data. Occasionally, users will make stupid decisions that can endanger not only them but also everyone around them, and I’d argue that it’s most definitely within Mozilla’s interests to not make it easy for people to do that. And that’s assuming that they made this entire change on purpose, which…it’s sounding like they didn’t.

The entire situation, in fact, seems like a mistake that they’re doing their utmost to rectify, and not the developers somehow purposefully trying to take these installed add-ons from you. Please don’t place unnecessary blame on the shoulders of folks who ultimately are just trying to help you have a secure and aesthetic-friendly browsing experience, especially when they’re obviously already scrambling to fix an issue that nobody wants to have.

I also strongly suggest that you look up “fundamental attribution error.” I feel as though understanding this concept would benefit you greatly.

1 Like
#6

We could be better informed if FF wasn’t trying to avoid saying if this was their error (and in my 20 years with this browser, I’ve never seen anything at all like this) or if some outside actor was involved. if you think FF does not know exactly what went down while refusing to divulge the information to those of us who were online when the disaster struck, why are you so incurious as the reasons behind this.? I’d been working online for six hours or more and it was sudden and overwhelming. You seem to be a non thinker willing to let others feed you a line instead of seeking the data that is not being shared . Good luck with that. The rest of us want information.

Please keep your thoughts (such as they are) to yourself or share them with with someone else. I’m not interested in your subservience to tech powers when you should be seeking answers, not making excuses.

#7

Here’s what I am not getting. I’ve been using some of these add ons since the great changeover a couple or so years back. And never once have they given me any trouble.

Uncomplicated light colored themes that helped me see my toolbars well and easily differentiate between the various icons with ease disappeared in an instant. Add ons that I trusted and that had served me well, gone in a flash. How is that certificates failed for everything all at once without any warning at all?

I appreciate your comment to me and I regret my initial anger, but I do think that FF would be well adviced to keep us posted without over techy language so that all users could have a better handle on what is going on.

#8

I just wish that FF would level with us in plain English as to whether this is internal to them or whether an outside actor is involved. In 20 years using this browser nothing even close to this debacle has ever occurred. I’d like to know what’s going on, not be “handled”.

Despite the changeover a few years back which was very destructive to the sense of continuity on FF, I manage to get past all the ups and downs of the change. But, at least I knew that it was coming. This presents great difficulties in just trying to understand what’s going down and whether, when they say they are ‘working on it’, that means our themes and add ons will be usable again.

#9

No outside actors were involved! This was due to an internal error.

1 Like
#10

It’s a shame nobody is allowed to make mistakes. In real life, developers, people, companies, everybody makes mistakes. And sometimes they suck and we are inconvenienced. As others have mentioned mozilla is working to correct their mistake. They owned the mistake and they have already issued a hotfix, which works. If you are so butt hurt by this issue, pick a different browser. And then wait for that company to make a mistake …

4 Likes
#11

njitman, stop spreading false information, the fix doesn’t work, it only works for add-ons that are already installed, anyone who decided to remove an add-on, thinking it would need an update, is screwed, because they’re unable to download it again from the Mozilla web site where the same certificate is used, instead they will get the message “Download failed. Please check your connection.”. The only workaround for that is to set system to date to something like May 1st, which allows the user to install the add-ons, after which the date has to return to the current date. If the hotfix was properly installed, the add-ons should be active again.

It’s not even a fix, but just a workaround, in my impression they’re only temporarily changing a timestamp. The only way for them to fix this, including their web site, is by getting an updated certificate, which can take quite a while.

And spare me this “People are human and can make mistakes”, for something as important as this it’s easy to have a software based reminder (including backup reminder) to avoid that a certificate expires and I say this as an experienced IT guy. Any IT guy who relies on just “not forgetting it” shouldn’t work in the IT!

Update: the fix doesn’t even work for everyone who still had their add-ons installed:

#12

Wrong - all of my add-ons across 3 laptops were removed, because I removed them from one and then FF Sync removed them from the other two. I turned on the setting to allow the hotfix, waited 15 minutes and was able to install from scratch 3 of the add-ons I use most on all 3 laptops. The key is waiting for the hotfix to be installed because it installs in the background. Their is a link to view studies that are installed, if you don’t see the hotfix, then of course it will not work and you might have to wait a few more minutes. I can’t speak to everyone’s config, but for mine which is stock except for turning on the studies setting, it worked.

As for IT, everything eventually breaks, even if you have alarms, backups, etc. Sometimes you just have to deal with it not being available and wait for a fix. You definitely have an alternative, fire up Chrome or Edge or whatever and stop bitching.

3 Likes
#13

No, you are wrong. You don’t have any clue what you are talking about. Add-ons don’t have to be installed at all, the issue with the certificate does NOT uninstall them, they were not removed from your laptops at all you silly man, they were just disactivated. The hotfix will work fine for most people, but those who have the add-ons manually uninstalled can get the message “Download failed. Please check your connection” when they try to download them from the Mozilla web site. In my case I got that message, since I had my add-ons manually uninstalled, so I decided to push the system date back 4 days and I was able to install them just fine. I know what I’m talking about and you clearly don’t.

And it’s also a fact that the hotfix still doesn’t work for some people as I clearly proved with the link that I provided, which you clearly like to ignore to come across as a smartass.

"As for IT, everything eventually breaks, even if you have alarms, backups, etc. "

How would you know, you clearly have no experience in IT at all.
The likeliness that a reminder that is installed locally and remotely fails at the same time is extremely small, especially when both locations also happen to use redundant systems and backup power. If you don’t agree with me, then you’re clearly not an IT guy. Any experienced IT guy will agree with me that any company who doesn’t want a certificate to expire, will have a reliable reminder in place, one that even continues to remind them when the whole building burns down. For Pete’s sake, stop living in the 80’s with your thoughts, in this day and age large companies have extreme redundancy built into their systems, you would have to nuke several building across the globe to break some of that kind of redundancy for specific data or software.

“and stop bitching”

I’m not going to bitch about it, I’m only bitching about a guy like you who thinks it’s acceptable for them to let it expire.

#14

Hi folks, I’m going to gently remind ya’ll that our forums are governed by Mozilla’s Code of Conduct. It’s ok to vent, but please do be civil with each other.

#15

Like you know my setup - I disabled them when they didn’t work and tried to re-enable them without the hotfix - you get the download error. After the hotfix, no download error and then re-enabled. I don’t need some internet troll to tell me how shit works.

As for IT, been in the biz for longer then you have been alive and I have seen it all. Backups that cannot be restored, multiple failures of systems that had redundancy and still failed. Stuff breaks. Certs sometimes don’t get renewed, etc. My point is no matter how much you plan, something eventually will break or not work the way you expect it. So, a cert expired and we all had to wait for it to be fixed. Not the end of the world and certainly somebody doesn’t need to be fired because it happened. Since you don’t ever make mistakes, you would not understand the process.

1 Like
#16

Since this thread has devolved into an argument, I am closing it down.

1 Like
#17

People in this thread have been talking about a hotfix as though something has been issued from FF to correct this matter. I have not been following the whole thread but only taking note of replies received by email, so have not been aware of any ‘hotfix’. Did I miss something?

#18

Since you offer nothing of value, I will simply ignore anything further from you as meaningless. Others have offered value in their communication. I choose to pay attention to them.

Get over yourself. Your grasp of the timeline in this thread is pathetic. Many here and in other threads have expressed dismay at what has gone down while all of us have been left in the dark about the true nature of this “mistake” as you call it.

#19