4 ms·

Mr Robot is a very activist show. It's entertainment, sure, but it's also attempting to send a message to it's viewers. Mozilla is attempting to push the same m

Mr Robot is a very activist show. It's entertainment, sure, but it's also attempting to send a message to it's viewers. Mozilla is attempting to push the same message. Aside from this misstep, what's wrong with that?

chrisseaton 9y ago
I just think it's gauche. I don't want to hear about the TV shows that you're a fan of in your software. Keep that stuff at home. I know that's subjective and probably seems miserable.
- youdontknowtho 9y ago
  The number 42, any number of monty python jokes in unix utils, references to songs like that Abba joke that showed up in...what was that again?
  - chrisseaton 9y ago
    But I think those are gauche as well. But actually I realised that I do think there is something wrong with pop culture references. They’re inside jokes. They exclude people who don’t watch the same things as you. They reinforce the tech bubble and frustrate people who don’t understand. I read a comment by someone who’s lecturer was confusing them by talking about the master theorem as the doctor theorem because he liked Doctor Who! The poor guy was embarrassed because he didn’t get it. They’re also just dull! Wow you watch that same TV show as me? Wow incredible. How wacky are we.
    - youdontknowtho 9y ago
      Fair play. Cheers.
  - scrollaway 9y ago
    man, is what you are thinking of.
    - youdontknowtho 9y ago
      Cheers, I thought it was actually pretty funny. Thanks!
  - digi_owl 9y ago
    Outside of the man thing, and it was promptly fixed when found to interfere with usage, those things are passive things that one have to know the source for to pick up on. This "extension" would be actively modifying pages based on triggers, behavior more akin to malware.
  - rootlocus 9y ago
    All those references are very old, and none of them were made in an attempt to market anything. They aren't ads. They're minor tokens of genuine appreciation people added to the tools they wrote.
DonHopkins 9y ago
The extension is essentially just an advertisement for Mr. Robot, which has a big budget. Presumably they pay for their other advertising, and pay their employees to develop their own web sites, whose URLs are built into the extension, and which receive special treatment by sending a custom header in each request. The obvious problems with how the extension was distributed and described aside, I think Mozilla still deserves to be paid for developing and especially distributing such advertisements, because it has cost them time, resources and reputation. Pre-installing a plug-in in the development build is a service that many people would pay for -- please install my bitcoin mining extension (and don't forget to enable its configuration flag "extensions.pug.lookingglass.super.awesome.download.accelerator"), it needs a lot of testing! How much does Google (or whoever) pay to be the default search engine, and how much is automatically installing an extension in the test build worth? If the Mr. Robot show is sincerely activist, they should be happy to pay Mozilla what it's worth for Mr. Robot to benefit from such special treatment. Especially if it was their idea to distribute and describe it the problematic way it was. At least Mr. Robot could barter in kind, by doing an episode all about the virtues of Mozilla, with a flashing download link at the bottom of the screen? ;)
- ufo 9y ago
  Mr Robot does "product placement" for Firefox when it shows the main characters using it as their web browser. The ARG also markets Firefox because the fans wanting to play the game must use Firefox to do so. I do agree that pushing this extension to everyone is a horrible idea though.
subjectsigma 9y ago
(Somewhat off-topic, but Mr. Robot as an ''activist'' show is heavily steeped in irony. Not only is the show a huge cash cow for a massive corporation, but much of the second season is focused around the main characters realizing this whole cyber-socialist revolution thing isn't what it was cracked up to be. There's also insanity, violence, and heavy drug use, and things become more abstract and more insane as the show progresses. It's very dark and somewhat disturbing. Good television, but not sure that's a message Mozilla really wants to align with?)
- mplewis 9y ago
  Yes, in a capitalist system, money comes from somewhere, and there's no ethical consumption. It's possible for that to happen and Mr. Robot to still carry strong anti-capitalist, anti-1%, pro-digital freedom messaging.
  - moises_silva 9y ago
    Yes, agreed, and hence, ironic.
  - golergka 9y ago
    > It's possible for that to happen and Mr. Robot to still carry strong anti-capitalist, anti-1%, pro-digital freedom messaging. What? I must admit that I haven't watched the third season yet, but the aftermath of the "revolution" shown in the second is a perfect rebuttal to the idiotic anti-capitalist ideals of the main heroes. When I started watching, I was afraid that it would turn into a typical "occupy something" propaganda, but it turned out much more intelligent and thoroughly implemented jab at it's own characters.
- make3 9y ago
  this season was softer I felt, though still good
digi_owl 9y ago
Well that explains why i found their initial show ad off putting, and likely why i have found the valley "way" less and less appealing. Activism of that sort rarely bring anything more than hot air and bad blood.
OnlyRepliesToBS 9y ago
They need to stop pushing messages.

chrisseaton 9y ago

I just think it's gauche. I don't want to hear about the TV shows that you're a fan of in your software. Keep that stuff at home. I know that's subjective and probably seems miserable.

youdontknowtho 9y ago
The number 42, any number of monty python jokes in unix utils, references to songs like that Abba joke that showed up in...what was that again?
- chrisseaton 9y ago
  But I think those are gauche as well. But actually I realised that I do think there is something wrong with pop culture references. They’re inside jokes. They exclude people who don’t watch the same things as you. They reinforce the tech bubble and frustrate people who don’t understand. I read a comment by someone who’s lecturer was confusing them by talking about the master theorem as the doctor theorem because he liked Doctor Who! The poor guy was embarrassed because he didn’t get it. They’re also just dull! Wow you watch that same TV show as me? Wow incredible. How wacky are we.
  - youdontknowtho 9y ago
    Fair play. Cheers.
- scrollaway 9y ago
  man, is what you are thinking of.
  - youdontknowtho 9y ago
    Cheers, I thought it was actually pretty funny. Thanks!
- digi_owl 9y ago
  Outside of the man thing, and it was promptly fixed when found to interfere with usage, those things are passive things that one have to know the source for to pick up on. This "extension" would be actively modifying pages based on triggers, behavior more akin to malware.
- rootlocus 9y ago
  All those references are very old, and none of them were made in an attempt to market anything. They aren't ads. They're minor tokens of genuine appreciation people added to the tools they wrote.

DonHopkins 9y ago

The extension is essentially just an advertisement for Mr. Robot, which has a big budget. Presumably they pay for their other advertising, and pay their employees to develop their own web sites, whose URLs are built into the extension, and which receive special treatment by sending a custom header in each request. The obvious problems with how the extension was distributed and described aside, I think Mozilla still deserves to be paid for developing and especially distributing such advertisements, because it has cost them time, resources and reputation. Pre-installing a plug-in in the development build is a service that many people would pay for -- please install my bitcoin mining extension (and don't forget to enable its configuration flag "extensions.pug.lookingglass.super.awesome.download.accelerator"), it needs a lot of testing! How much does Google (or whoever) pay to be the default search engine, and how much is automatically installing an extension in the test build worth? If the Mr. Robot show is sincerely activist, they should be happy to pay Mozilla what it's worth for Mr. Robot to benefit from such special treatment. Especially if it was their idea to distribute and describe it the problematic way it was. At least Mr. Robot could barter in kind, by doing an episode all about the virtues of Mozilla, with a flashing download link at the bottom of the screen? ;)

ufo 9y ago
Mr Robot does "product placement" for Firefox when it shows the main characters using it as their web browser. The ARG also markets Firefox because the fans wanting to play the game must use Firefox to do so. I do agree that pushing this extension to everyone is a horrible idea though.

subjectsigma 9y ago

(Somewhat off-topic, but Mr. Robot as an ''activist'' show is heavily steeped in irony. Not only is the show a huge cash cow for a massive corporation, but much of the second season is focused around the main characters realizing this whole cyber-socialist revolution thing isn't what it was cracked up to be. There's also insanity, violence, and heavy drug use, and things become more abstract and more insane as the show progresses. It's very dark and somewhat disturbing. Good television, but not sure that's a message Mozilla really wants to align with?)

mplewis 9y ago
Yes, in a capitalist system, money comes from somewhere, and there's no ethical consumption. It's possible for that to happen and Mr. Robot to still carry strong anti-capitalist, anti-1%, pro-digital freedom messaging.
- moises_silva 9y ago
  Yes, agreed, and hence, ironic.
- golergka 9y ago
  > It's possible for that to happen and Mr. Robot to still carry strong anti-capitalist, anti-1%, pro-digital freedom messaging. What? I must admit that I haven't watched the third season yet, but the aftermath of the "revolution" shown in the second is a perfect rebuttal to the idiotic anti-capitalist ideals of the main heroes. When I started watching, I was afraid that it would turn into a typical "occupy something" propaganda, but it turned out much more intelligent and thoroughly implemented jab at it's own characters.
make3 9y ago
this season was softer I felt, though still good

digi_owl 9y ago

Well that explains why i found their initial show ad off putting, and likely why i have found the valley "way" less and less appealing. Activism of that sort rarely bring anything more than hot air and bad blood.

OnlyRepliesToBS 9y ago

They need to stop pushing messages.