OK Cupid Urging users to boycott Firefox

If you log into Ok Cupid using Firefox today you'll be greeted by this message urging users not to use any Mozilla related software after it come to light that the CEO Brenden Eitch wants same sex marriage/relationships to be illegal.

So what do you think of this? Whilst I'm usually against businesses throwing their beliefs in it's users faces by urging them to following certain actions I think this is also kind of great because it educates the customer on the beliefs of the people they are supporting whilst giving them an option to do something about it. This is the kind of boycotting I can see gathering a lot of steam as opposed to someone throwing a petition into the vast internet void. Plus the guys clearly a bigot and I don't like seeing bigots being supported.

Yeah, I'm not going to stop using a browser because of 1 individuals opinion. Sorry. It could be made by Hitler himself and I'd still continue to use it over IE.

I agree with their argument and it's cool to see them take a stand like this. People trying to advance outdated homophobic viewpoints do not deserve our support.

While I agree with their argument I think this is the wrong way to do it.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but this seems a bit strange.

Although I don't know that anyone that uses OKCupid would be bothered by it popping up I guess.

I don't know. I don't use firefox anyway because I've always thought it sucks. It's a resource hog and I've always hated that. I stopped using it as soon as I could. Never understood why some people still think it's the best web browser.

You don't have to, I just think it's neat that someone is doing something proactive about something as opposed to throwing another petition out there and offering a point of action as soon as the message is spread. I reckon most people wont change out of convenience (although Firefox has been trash for years) but those who feel strongly about it will.

Eh, it's their site, they can do what they want.

This is certainly a better cause than those e-begging posts when a site detects adblock, though.

Does it really say to switch to 'Internet Exploder' in that email?

I will keep on using firefox , dont care about this.

Well I guess technically I don't use "Firefox" anymore but a browser that optimizes the Firefox kernal API for better performance on modern PCs. In a lot of ways it's at least one degree removed from Firefox and it's supported by an open-source dev team separate from Firefox. Personally this message is great and I love it whenever this approach is taken with it. I also happen to agree with their views if I was on the fence about my browsers and/or had multiple ones in active use, I would definitely leave Firefox behind. If anything though, I means I'm sticking Pale Moon.

And still use it over Chrome?

See, I knew Firefox was awful. This just proves it. Chrome FTW.

Using the power of the purse to spur social change is a pretty old fashioned way of doing things though.

My reservations over this entire thing has more to do with who actually gets hurt by a sudden drop in Firefox market share: it's not the CEO, but the line employees that will see the most hurt.

I don't see the harm in a simple message like this. They're making their statement for something they believe in and leaving it at that.

Which would pressure Mozilla to replace him.

A CEO with a nasty reputation could have a negative impact on stock value by association of name alone is not exactly a good thing for a budding CEO. Especially in an age where a lot of businesses are desperately trying to throw off any conservative image they might have.

Hahaaaaa, I had to do a double-take when I got to the bottom with all of the other browser recommendations.

That's an elaborate way of saying, our site is not optimized for Firefox.

I wonder if, in that case, he said he'd changed his opinion, true or not, if it would even matter.

I still can't tell if it's a typo or an actual joke.

"New CEO"

So he's new and therefore had nothing to do with Firefox's origins. Who cares, they come and go anyway.

I'm sure there are a lot of Mozilla employees that DO NOT share a similar opinion to that of the CEO. I will continue to support those employees and the non-profit organization that they represent. Don't let one douchebag overshadow the rest of the good people. Just my opionion.

And I will continue to use Firefox without a care.

In this case Mozilla is a non-profit organization. There is no stock.

That's a bummer about the new CEO, but I'll keep using Firefox. I'll definitely switch if Firefox starts popping up messages that say "ban gay marriage!" though...

Also, um, April Fools?

Man this sure isn't a witch hunt on a guy that donated some money to Prop 8, then changed his mind then filed this blog about it or anything.

https://brendaneich.com/2014/03/inclusiveness-at-mozilla/

The thing is, Brendan Eich is also the creator of JavaScript. Shouldn't they remove all JavaScript from their site, too? (I assume they use some.) But almost every browser has JavaScript support in it, so they should probably urge their users to use a browser without any JavaScript support, too.

Boycotting software based on the people behind it seems like a fool's errand to me.

as long it is justt a message and they do not block the use via firefox. I see no reason why it should be not ok.

If we boycotted everything from companies that had CEOs with views we didn't agree with we'd probably not use a lot of the things we do.

They can do what they want, I suppose, they're private citizens. I don't like the idea of targeting an individual's employees because he holds an opinion though. I would need a little more context on his involvement in actively campaigning against gay rights to be certain of whether there's any legitimacy of it. If he just happened to answer a question in an interview some time and now people are holding his honesty against him, that's no good at all.

He donated to a campaign for Prop 8, so yes, he has actively worked against gay rights.

How silly. Unless the new CEO of Firefox went out on a limb to assert his opinion through the user interface of Firefox, then sure. This is just a re-hash of the Chick-Fil-A bullshit, and its getting really annoying now. If you want to spread the equality of a persons freedom, then don't subject an entire company to his personal views and act like saint, OKcupid.

Opera is a pretty good browser, guys. I think it's good for them to do this, it's certainly relevant for what that site is about. I'll keep using Mozilla products, since they're pretty good at what they do, but I wouldn't donate any money to them while that person has a leading position in their foundation.

Isn't Opera basically Chrome now? Is there some reason to use it instead of Chrome? I haven't tried Opera for a while.

@teaoverlord: I am pretty sure a lot of leading people are doing bad things. Do you want to boycott everyone? I think it is ok to leave a message like that if they want to it is their right but still I think this is pretty dumb. If its the Company or if he does it in the name of the company then I think it is a good think to boycott but if he does it with his own money and because of his own believe he has also the right to do so.

He has the right to do so, but people also have the right to refuse to support him. Boycotting Mozilla is a way for people to put pressure on them to appoint a new CEO. By the way, I'm not participating in any boycott. It's been a while since I've used any Mozilla products, but I'm not sure whether I would boycott them if I used them.

@teaoverlord: O f course they have^^

But to be honest: here. Going against a person who may or may not like a certain group of people is a bit ironic when it is coming from a group who wants to be accepted and understood by society.

So you're equating gays with people who want to deny them their rights.

Great.

@august: No. I am just having the opinion that you should also respect other peoples opinion even if they do not agree with yours. As long they do not attack these people or groups. It is not against the law to not like a certain group of people the last time I looked at it. And he does not deny any of their rights. He is in no position to do this.

If you want equal rights it's ironic to go against a person who donates to campaigns to deny your rights?

@teaoverlord: I live in a country where people have equal rights already. You can marry men or women what you like. And gays are totally accepted here by the general public. Of course there are people who do not support them but so what? As long as the laws support them I see nothing wrong with that. We live in a free world and as long you do not hurt people every opinion should be ok.

I dont get the hate with the newer versions of Internet Explorer. The latest IE version is really good and does some things better than Chrome does.

We aren't talking about your country.

Yup. I tried to like Chrome, but every time I tried to use it it would reliably stop responding within ten minutes and had to be killed in task manager. Every attempt to uninstall it failed too. It was on that HDD until a reformat.

Not the norm, I know, but it's really hard to get past that first impression.

I mostly use Chrome now, but a message like that would never make me switch browsers. I'm not going down the dark hole of boycotting products because I do not agree with what the CEO does with his own money.

Wonder if they'd prefer users have Chrome with Adblock or use Firefox?