This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Updates disabling personal addons is MISGUIDED

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 23 views
  • Last reply by MyDavid

MyDavid
MyDavid
more options

@Firefox developers @Firefox Developer edition developers

You entirely miss a core user objective:

After Mozilla's promises "we have fixed this issue" I came back to firefox from Chrome, and while initially happy about your improvements, I just had to realize mozilla developers STILL don't grasp core user objectives:

1) You permanently issue updates 2) Then, without even ASKING, the updates DEactivate PERSONAL extensions put together over MANY hours with lots of love 3) Instead of doing what any reasonable developer can be expected to do:

a) offer the update, making CLEAR which addons you plan to disable after updating b) ignore YOUR interest aka "keeping you safe", focus on USER interest aka "I can do that myself, keep my personal addons in place!" c) never ever consider to DISABLE anything the USER has put in place! That's an insult, ignorance to the user's interests.

When will these developers finally LEARN to offer OPTIONS?

What, you feel I am upset?? Guess why?

Regards David

PS: It doesn't matter whether another place would be "more suitable" to post this: Your page here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/get-help-firefox-developer-edition linked to this, after navigating 5 hurdles of course, after all it's mozilla.

PPS: Guess what users do? What you TRAIN user to do: "Never ever update stuff from mozilla"

Precisely.

@Firefox developers @Firefox Developer edition developers You entirely miss a core user objective: After Mozilla's promises "we have fixed this issue" I came back to firefox from Chrome, and while initially happy about your improvements, I just had to realize mozilla developers STILL don't grasp core user objectives: 1) You permanently issue updates 2) Then, without even ASKING, the updates DEactivate PERSONAL extensions put together over MANY hours with lots of love 3) Instead of doing what any reasonable developer can be expected to do: a) offer the update, making CLEAR which addons you plan to disable after updating b) ignore YOUR interest aka "keeping you safe", focus on USER interest aka "I can do that myself, keep my personal addons in place!" c) never ever consider to DISABLE anything the USER has put in place! That's an insult, ignorance to the user's interests. When will these developers finally LEARN to offer OPTIONS? What, you feel I am upset?? Guess why? Regards David PS: It doesn't matter whether another place would be "more suitable" to post this: Your page here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/get-help-firefox-developer-edition linked to this, after navigating 5 hurdles of course, after all it's mozilla. PPS: Guess what users do? What you TRAIN user to do: "Never ever update stuff from mozilla" Precisely.

All Replies (2)

philipp
philipp
  • Moderator
more options

hi MyDavid, sorry for that - but technically it wasn't an update that is causing addons to fail. a certificate used in the chain to verify the signatures of addons (a procedure that firefox will perform once per day) has expired and the clock of your system being up to date is - unfortunately - all it took to land you in that error condition.

mozilla is already rolling out a hotfix for this problem as we speak, ideally it should reach your firefox when you restart once or in the next couple of hours.

MyDavid
MyDavid Question owner
more options

Oh thank you so much for your reply, Philipp. Much appreciated!! If you are one of the few who have real power within mozilla development, would it be possible to convince your peers to implement my suggestion nonetheless for the benefit of all users?

Because this deactivating of addons happens everytime/too often. Seems the certificate issue was just an add-on (sorry for the pun).

So, I meant: Firefox updates should - never be forced upon, it is 100% a user's discretion whether he/she shares developers'/"political" understanding of "security" or not. An update disrupts a system, any system. Weekly/monthly updates wouldn't be necessary anyway if only due care was taken with the prior version...

Frequent updates are NOT a sign of "progressive development" but of weaknesses in programming. They reflect BADLY on any product. (Extreme example to highlight this: I have a few wordpress plugins that now come with warnings aka "hasn't been updated for the last 14 wordpress updates" and such = many years! Guess what? These few plugins nonetheless have NO issues whatsoever. They are flawless. Programmed by developers few and far between. THAT is quality.)

- and 2) updates should clearly state which addons/extension will stop working IF the user decides to update. So that the user has a fair chance to assess all factors influencing his/her decision.

Because, what more people than myself noticed over the years/decades: Developers have become extremely patronizing/policing adult users. Yet they don't understand nor know all the factors and ramifications affecting a user's situation. And so there's never grounds for "overruling" the likely interests of users because the developer believes "it's right".

-)

Either way, again thank you so much!! You probably play a big role in this overall fantastic product. Thank you!