6 ms·

Obviously I didn't like the the poor implementation that sent any and all of my selections off to their servers. I really dislike what it does to mouse input.

by jerrya 15y ago

Obviously I didn't like the the poor implementation that sent any and all of my selections off to their servers. I really dislike what it does to mouse input. If I select something, it's mostly because I want to copy and paste it. I am very good about crediting where I collect my copy and paste segments from, I didn't need apture to put in references to the original article in every single one of my cut and paste buffers. Sometimes I select so I can search. I want to conduct the search with my favored search engine. I don't want Apture conducting the search (poorly) with the intent of keeping me at the original site. And sometimes I click or even select in a window just to leave a visual indicator of where I am so that when I scroll or drag a window around, I can find my place easier. I don't want apture windows popping up whenever I click or select anything. To quote the Simpson's the Internets do not work that way. And there was no way to opt out of it short of using noscript or adblock or other technologies to strip it away. So: don't invade my privacy, don't insert text into my cut and paste buffers, don't steal my search abilities, don't steal my mouse clicks, don't pop up windows, don't break my browser. Apart from that, it was a real winner service for the websites, and not for their visitors

cdata 15y ago
> Don't invade my privacy To varying extents, saying you don't do this is really hard for any third party application integrated into a website. Unfortunately, we can't pull up contextual search results about a text selection without consulting a third party service like Bing or Duck Duck Go, so I doubt that we'll be able to do much better than offering an "opt out" feature in our UI. > Don't insert text into my cut and paste buffers We don't currently do this, but if our users ask for it, there is a good chance we will add it. Since it does sound like a frustrating thing, we can push to make it an "opt in" feature on the site owner's side, as opposed to the default behavior. At least that way, it'll only happen when the site owner really wants it to. > Don't steal my search abilities I don't believe we currently inhibit your ability to search with your engine of choice. If you find that we do, please let me know! > Don't steal my mouse clicks We don't "steal" your mouse clicks (though we do listen to them ;), and we do try to make sure the window only pops up when you have selected text. This experience will hopefully improve over time. Unfortunately, not doing this prevents the app from working in the first place (unless you have a better way to implement it) > Don't pop up windows Again, not doing this makes it difficult to have the app in the first place. I know its not for everyone, but a lot of our users really enjoy this functionality. > Don't break my browser That's something I can definitely do. Please let me know if you notice us breaking your browser in any way :) us not breaking your browser is one of my highest concerns.
- moe 15y ago
  I know its not for everyone, but a lot of our users really enjoy this functionality. I think you made a typo there, you surely meant to write: "a lot of our advertisers enjoy this functionality". Right? Because, as you are most certainly aware, nobody "enjoys" these keyword/selection-popup scams. You are free to taint your name for the sake of scamming some clicks out of the computer illiterates (those with the AOL-toolbars). But please at least spare us the hypocrisy here; it's plain old intrusive advertising of the worst kind, and you know that.
  - shortformblog 15y ago
    I do. I'm a huge fan, actually.
  - cdata 15y ago
    Some people like the Google toolbar. I don't use it personally (nor would I ever choose to), but that doesn't mean it doesn't hold value for other people. That said, two facts for you: 1) We don't gain any kind of advertising revenue from this app, nor do we serve adds through this app on behalf of third parties. This app is specifically intended to be a value-add for our users. 2) Apture really is one of our most popular third party apps, and apps are entirely opt-in. You'll see that through your own lens, of course, but through ours it means that, when Apture shuts down, our users will lose one of the features that they enjoy using through our service.
    - lambda 15y ago
      > Some people like the Google toolbar. I don't use it personally (nor would I ever choose to), but that doesn't mean it doesn't hold value for other people. So, if you don't like the Google toolbar, you simply don't install it in your browser. With Apture, you don't get to choose. If you like it, it's only available on some websites. If you don't, you have to go through some adblock or privacy block rigamarole to prevent it (and other clones, like yours) from interfering with your ability to select text on the web. It is a prime candidate for functionality that should be provided by the browser, not the website. Sure, it can be nice to do a mockup in JavaScript to demonstrate and experimenting with the functionality without patching your browser. But it shouldn't be something that random webmasters are enabling on a whim, because they think that their users just might like it. That's akin to bundling Google Toolbar with some random software that someone's downloading, just because you think that they might like it.

by jerrya 15y ago

cdata 15y ago

> Don't invade my privacy To varying extents, saying you don't do this is really hard for any third party application integrated into a website. Unfortunately, we can't pull up contextual search results about a text selection without consulting a third party service like Bing or Duck Duck Go, so I doubt that we'll be able to do much better than offering an "opt out" feature in our UI. > Don't insert text into my cut and paste buffers We don't currently do this, but if our users ask for it, there is a good chance we will add it. Since it does sound like a frustrating thing, we can push to make it an "opt in" feature on the site owner's side, as opposed to the default behavior. At least that way, it'll only happen when the site owner really wants it to. > Don't steal my search abilities I don't believe we currently inhibit your ability to search with your engine of choice. If you find that we do, please let me know! > Don't steal my mouse clicks We don't "steal" your mouse clicks (though we do listen to them ;), and we do try to make sure the window only pops up when you have selected text. This experience will hopefully improve over time. Unfortunately, not doing this prevents the app from working in the first place (unless you have a better way to implement it) > Don't pop up windows Again, not doing this makes it difficult to have the app in the first place. I know its not for everyone, but a lot of our users really enjoy this functionality. > Don't break my browser That's something I can definitely do. Please let me know if you notice us breaking your browser in any way :) us not breaking your browser is one of my highest concerns.

moe 15y ago
I know its not for everyone, but a lot of our users really enjoy this functionality. I think you made a typo there, you surely meant to write: "a lot of our advertisers enjoy this functionality". Right? Because, as you are most certainly aware, nobody "enjoys" these keyword/selection-popup scams. You are free to taint your name for the sake of scamming some clicks out of the computer illiterates (those with the AOL-toolbars). But please at least spare us the hypocrisy here; it's plain old intrusive advertising of the worst kind, and you know that.
- shortformblog 15y ago
  I do. I'm a huge fan, actually.
- cdata 15y ago
  Some people like the Google toolbar. I don't use it personally (nor would I ever choose to), but that doesn't mean it doesn't hold value for other people. That said, two facts for you: 1) We don't gain any kind of advertising revenue from this app, nor do we serve adds through this app on behalf of third parties. This app is specifically intended to be a value-add for our users. 2) Apture really is one of our most popular third party apps, and apps are entirely opt-in. You'll see that through your own lens, of course, but through ours it means that, when Apture shuts down, our users will lose one of the features that they enjoy using through our service.
  - lambda 15y ago
    > Some people like the Google toolbar. I don't use it personally (nor would I ever choose to), but that doesn't mean it doesn't hold value for other people. So, if you don't like the Google toolbar, you simply don't install it in your browser. With Apture, you don't get to choose. If you like it, it's only available on some websites. If you don't, you have to go through some adblock or privacy block rigamarole to prevent it (and other clones, like yours) from interfering with your ability to select text on the web. It is a prime candidate for functionality that should be provided by the browser, not the website. Sure, it can be nice to do a mockup in JavaScript to demonstrate and experimenting with the functionality without patching your browser. But it shouldn't be something that random webmasters are enabling on a whim, because they think that their users just might like it. That's akin to bundling Google Toolbar with some random software that someone's downloading, just because you think that they might like it.