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Fakespot shuts down today after 9 years of detecting fake product reviews

(blog.truestar.pro)
406 points doppio19 | 5 comments | 01 Jul 25 20:26 UTC | HN request time: 1.025s | source
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bentcorner ◴[01 Jul 25 23:32 UTC] No.44438912[source]▶
> Mozilla couldn't find a sustainable business model for Fakespot despite its popularity

I don't know if it's fair for me to armchair quarterback, but still - what was their business model when they decided to do the acquisition? From the outside looking in barely did anything whatsoever.

I browse Amazon using Firefox extremely often and I don't recall seeing any helper UI pop up. Even so, what would have been their strategy to monetize me? User data? Commissions? Some kind of Mozilla+ subscription?

I love FF and cheer Mozilla on where I can, but honestly these decisions are inscrutable.

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burnt-resistor ◴[02 Jul 25 00:00 UTC] No.44439060[source]▶
Mozilla seems infected by corporate board members who probably have conflicts of interest including investments in Amazon, Google, etc.
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TylerE ◴[02 Jul 25 01:59 UTC] No.44439614[source]▶
Mozilla seems to be infected by upper management that feels a need to justify ever spiraling salaries.
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quantas ◴[02 Jul 25 07:43 UTC] No.44441119[source]▶
Couldn't agree more. After the founder of the company itself Brendan Eich was fired it only went downhill
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1. mcpar-land ◴[02 Jul 25 13:53 UTC] No.44443763[source]▶
Brendan Eich was fired for opposing gay marriage, then went on to create Brave, which is yet another Chromium wrapper just with bad crypto monetization and other scummy practices.
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2. tomstockmail ◴[02 Jul 25 16:29 UTC] No.44445673[source]▶
Couldn't imagine what Mozilla would be like today if he stayed around and tried to integrate crypto. At the end of the day, main post shows Firefox engineering is keeping up with Chrome which is a feat no other browser has accomplished.
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3. mcpar-land ◴[02 Jul 25 20:43 UTC] No.44448612[source]▶
For the record I also dislike the top brass at Mozilla for the same reasons I dislike Eich - trendchasing instead of making a good browser. Firefox is succeeding because of the engineers and despite the c-suite.
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4. gkbrk ◴[02 Jul 25 20:46 UTC] No.44448642{3}[source]▶
> Firefox is succeeding because of the engineers

By what metric is Firefox succeeding?

5. sunaookami ◴[04 Jul 25 05:58 UTC] No.44461541[source]▶
>Brendan Eich was fired for opposing gay marriage

This gets really tiresome to rebuke. He supported a proposition that was supported by the MAJORITY of the citizens at the time and that was already six years old when we became Mozilla CEO. Some people wrote hit pieces even though he even distanced himself from it. He was not fired, he stepped back voluntarily.