News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on 15 Years of Forking. Parent comment

Re:15 Years of Forking by darkwater on Monday March 30, 2026 @07:00AM (#47572740)
From TFA:

> The original text implied Brave special cases ads on their search partner’s page - they don’t. Brave blocks third party ads on all websites by default, regardless of any partnership, and offers an additional aggressive mode that blocks first party ads as well. Waterfox’s approach of allowing text ads on the default search partner page is our own decision for sustainability,

I would like to stress on the last sentence:

  Waterfox’s approach of allowing text ads on the default search partner page is our own decision for sustainability
So basically they are permitting ads from their paying partners.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:15 Years of Forking by MrAlex94 on Monday March 30, 2026 @07:08AM (#47572794)
I think that's an unfair framing. No one is paying Waterfox to allow ads - it's a revenue share from the default search engine (which I've always been transparent about)[1], same as every other independent browser that has a search partner. It's not an "acceptable ads" programme where advertisers pay to be whitelisted.

[1] https://www.waterfox.com/docs/policies/revenue-model/

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:15 Years of Forking by darkwater on Monday March 30, 2026 @08:55AM (#47573686)
Well, the default search engine is definitely your business partner, no? So they are getting a different tratment: default search engine (like in most other browsers, nothing fancy here) and their ads in their SERP are not blocked - at least by default - by the embedded ad-blocking engine of WaterFox. Isn't that correct? Happy to stand corrected, if it's the case.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:15 Years of Forking by MrAlex94 on Monday March 30, 2026 @09:37AM (#47574147)
Yes, that's correct. Startpage is the default search partner, and their search ads aren't blocked by default. Users can enable blocking on that page too with a single toggle in settings. That's why I laid it all out in this post, to let users know - it's about keeping Waterfox sustainable (paying bills, putting food on the table) as it's my only source of income currently.

I've mentioned in another comment, that I've tried other ways such as with subscription paid services, but unfortunately there's nowhere near enough traction for it to be sustainable.

Also bare in mind Waterfox currently comes with nothing, so this is just an extra layer of protection.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:15 Years of Forking by dralley on Monday March 30, 2026 @10:09AM (#47574601)
>I think that's an unfair framing. No one is paying Waterfox to allow ads

...

>Yes, that's correct. Startpage is the default search partner, and their search ads aren't blocked by default.

The framing seems fair to me. Certainly not more unfair than those who criticize Firefox for having a search deal that defaults to Google while allowing the user to change it (which some people do)

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:15 Years of Forking by chasil on Monday March 30, 2026 @11:28AM (#47575551)
"For how it works in practice: by default, text ads will remain visible on our default search partner’s page - currently Startpage. The idea is that this is what will keep the lights on."

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:15 Years of Forking by MrAlex94 on Monday March 30, 2026 @10:23AM (#47574760)
The distinction I'm drawing is between a revenue share from a search partnership and something like an acceptable ads programme where individual advertisers pay to bypass the blocker - those are different things.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:15 Years of Forking by wackget on Monday March 30, 2026 @11:18AM (#47575423)
FYI the documentation seems to be outdated.

On the Cookie Banner Reduction page[1] the section titled "Turn Cookie Banner Reduction on or off" talks about settings which don't exist (at least in the latest portable version 6.6.7 from Portapps.io). There is no option to block cookie banners in all windows.

[1] https://www.waterfox.com/support/cookie-banner-reduction/#tu...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:15 Years of Forking by red_admiral on Monday March 30, 2026 @09:28AM (#47574027)
Which is still miles above Firefox (Win11/x64, 149.0, EU), where you have to untick everying from "Suggestions from Firefox" to "Trending search suggestions" to "allow personalised extension recommendations" to "Recommended stories" and "sponsored shortcuts" on the home screen, because [1]https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-suggest?as=u&ut...

> We partner with adMarketplace, Yelp and AccuWeather to provide sponsored suggestions that enhance your browsing experience with helpful, context-based information.

And if you leave Firefox for a while you get the "welcome back" bar that lets you ... uninstall ublock with one click before you've realised it.

Waterfox has text ads on the default search page based on your search query, not based on tracking you [2]. And it's really easy to turn off.

[1] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-suggest?as=u&ut... and https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/sponsor-privacy?as=u&ut...

[2] https://www.startpage.com/privacy-please/startpage-articles/...

[ Parent | on HN ]