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Re:Firefox is on a slippery slope by PhasmaFelis on Saturday December 16, 2017 @07:50PM (#15943240)
> Even when "enabled" in the add-on manager, the add-on was completely inert unless a user also manually dove into about:config and specifically enabled a flag related to the add-on. Without taking that deliberate action, it didn't do anything but watch that flag. No headers, no word inversions, etc.

Wow. So is Drew DeVault lying, or confused? Was there a bug that turned it on for him? This is odd.

Re:Firefox is on a slippery slope by callahad on Saturday December 16, 2017 @08:26PM (#15943378)
Embedded WebExtensions are a bit weird, since they're kind of a hybrid of our legacy and modern add-on APIs, so I'd just bet on confusion.

This is the only code that runs when the add-on is enabled: https://github.com/mozilla/addon-wr/blob/59659431fd2a75c33ac...

Lines 22 and 39 determine if the inner WebExtension starts up.

Re:Firefox is on a slippery slope by throwanem on Sunday December 17, 2017 @08:09AM (#15945617)
"Confused" is the correct answer. So was I, or I'd have called that out and asked that it be corrected in prepublication review - and it would have been.

As I apologize for the error, I'd also mention that the principle of charity is a thing for a reason. One may very usefully cite errors in published articles and request their correction without also suggesting their presence may be an attempt at deliberate deception. Certainly such things do occur, but we need not assume them, even provisionally, in the absence of any evidence that the error is anything other than an honest mistake. Such behavior when made a norm debases our discourse; such behavior when indulged even occasionally risks its normalization. I think the quality of discourse on Hacker News merits preservation and enhancement, rather than debasement. But perhaps you disagree.

Re:Firefox is on a slippery slope by Dylan16807 on Sunday December 17, 2017 @02:47PM (#15947283)
> Certainly such things do occur, but we need not assume them, even provisionally, in the absence of any evidence that the error is anything other than an honest mistake.

Personally, I do not see "lying, confused, or bug? this is odd" as an accusation of lying.