Bonum Certa Men Certa

Pale Moon's Greed and Corrosive People (Boosted by Microsoft) in “FOSS” “Communities”

Reprinted with permission from Ryan

NoScript’s legacy XUL version supports Pale Moon.



It works fine, but by default, “MoonChild” has set it to disable NoScript and warn the user that the extension may “cause issues”.



I went to install NoScript, the legacy XUL version, which works fine in SeaMonkey.



Pale Moon immediately disabled it and told me it was dangerous to use that extension because it might break Web sites.



Then when I clicked to know more about this issue, I was led to a page on Pale Moon Forums where “MoonChild”, the main developer, explains that he doesn’t want people coming to bitch to him if an extension that disables JavaShit breaks a Web site.



So it just turns it off and makes it sound like the extension is sketchy, and then you have to read that and say “Oh bullshit!” and turn the extension back on.



The cynic in me would say that since it breaks Pale Moon’s default start.me page full of ads and shit, he’s worried he may lose money if you don’t see that every time you load the browser.



So he is scaring people away from NoScript to keep the spice flowing.



It’s understandable that people who spend significant time and effort to create a program deserve to be compensated for it, but scaring the users of an extension that enhances Web browser security by reducing the Active Content attack surface (which is present in all Web browsers) is not the right way to handle this.



“MoonChild” doesn’t need to deal with his revenue problem by implying that NoScript is malicious software, which is dishonest to say the least. He should, rather, put a one time notice in the browser explaining that he needs revenue and that blocking the start.me page harms his ability to fund Pale Moon development, and then asking the user or offering to the user to whitelist that page, and ultimately respecting the user’s decision.



Free Software (as defined by the Free Software Definition in “The Freedom to run the program as you wish.”) is about respecting user choices.



If your program doesn’t respect what the user wants, it may technically fall under a Free Software license as source code, but it violates the spirit of the Free Software Definition.



When I went to learn more about the issue that Pale Moon causes for NoScript, I came to a different forum where I learned that after “MoonChild” made the childish decision about overriding the user’s clearly expressed intention of installing NoScript to protect them from Active Content, users flooded the Pale Moon forums to complain, and the result of the complaining was that NoScript is declared a “banned subject” on their forums, and threats of being banned from the Pale Moon forums by “MoonChild”.



I’m starting to seriously wonder about “MoonChild’s” version of the events that led to former Pale Moon developer Matt Tobin being expelled from the project. Tobin hangs out at the #SeaMonkey IRC room on Libera Chat, and he doesn’t seem like a bad/mean person to me. The description of a developer as a Prima Donna and a “Hitler”-like figure sounds more to me like “MoonChild” because of the ongoing NoScript debacle.



I would generally like to have another browser to recommend to people.



I’m going to hold off on Pale Moon. It does seem to have fewer Web compatibility issues than SeaMonkey, but there are still quite a few.



I noticed that the Palefills extension to fix some of these up also works in SeaMonkey (it’s in the manifest and makes GitHub and Gitlab and dozens of other sites work again in both browsers).



Typically, both browsers should generally appeal to people who don’t like the “Modern Web” very much and who think Firefox has gone completely off the rails, who are willing to deal with “Modern Web” breakage by deploying clever hacks and workarounds where needed (or just opening some Modern browser to pay their electric bill and close it again for a month), but the developers of Pale Moon seem to be difficult people, to put it mildly.



I’ve noticed that “MoonChild” has made Matt Tobin another “graylisted” subject on his forums. Either you say Tobin is Hitler or you disappear too.



“Communities” such as this are impossible and ultimately fail due to attrition.



They can be fun to make fun of, though, but you have to find your own platform to do it on.



For example, when MinceR in #techrights IRC said, “Has he heard of the ability to change home pages?”, I said, “ALERT: Changing your home page is dangerous and may cause Pale Moon to become unstable, resulting in profile corruption. We cannot support this if you proceed. -M.C. Hitler”.



Gone are the days where we can have mild disagreements, or disagreements that aren’t even about Free Software, or even an off beat sense of humor, without the Cancel Mob trying to hijack everything and kill us with fire.



Recently, Matthew J. Garrett, or Matt GULAG as I call him on #Techrights IRC has been petitioning Roy to cancel me over some personal beliefs that I have expressed that aren’t even that unusual. Roy hasn’t acted on that.



Matt GULAG’s career in software development is on a jack stand provided by Microsoft and other companies that are hostile to software freedom.



Unfortunately, when Freenode turned into The Pretender’s “Freenode Autonomous Zone”, people who are bad in other ways, like Matt GULAG and “MoonChild” (*cough* M.C. Hitler) (which MinceR refers to as “ManChild”) forked it and created Libera.Chat. Libera.Chat is awful because it’s been politicized by the cancel mob.



Freenode, before The Pretender took it over, had almost 100,000 users and was _the_ place to discuss Free Software.



Libera.Chat only has about 49,000 users at peak hours, and it’s because they cancel anyone who isn’t some total leftist freak-of-nature or a Microsoft toady that supports their sabotage efforts of GNU/Linux.



Libera.Chat has banned me like 7 times (sort of like Matrix.org has), but K-Lines don’t mean much of anything to me like they did in the days of dial-up or direct connect over my real IP which only changed every several months or so.



I change IP addresses and VPN providers every so often so good luck making any of that stick. I’m on Libera.Chat in several different ways all at once right now.



Eventually the bans don’t happen as often because you know which rooms (such as #linux and #libera) which have asshole moderators in them.



Microsoft has virtually succeeded in planting moles in every high profile place where “Linux” is up for discussion, and they’ve made sure that people who don’t like Microsoft and say why get banned. Even if it’s like, a one-liner and you’re not up on a soap box. Or you make a joke about something that really happened.



(Like the time Microsoft did the BIG BOOBIES debacle with the Linux kernel in their HyperV driver and then says all the perverts are in open source.)



The bans happened to me on Reddit and Libera, and whether the ban itself sticks or not, they know that you know that if you come back and criticize them again, the ban will just happen again.



This is part of their strategy to make it seem like everyone “loves” Microsoft or are at least indifferent.



When communities fall apart, and the center cannot hold, due to people like Matt GULAG re-defining “community” into something that creates proprietary “standards” that people have no control over, which lock them out of their computer (e.g., “secure boot community”), then projects like GNU/Linux become little more than another crappy “vendor UNIX”, which everyone hated due to the lock-in and incompatibilities.



Oh, you want to go make something else?



It won’t be compatible, it’ll probably have bugs if you try, but “you have every right to do that”, says Matt GULAG on his Twitter blog.



(In reference to IBM’s systemd. The creator of systemd now works for Microsoft. I’m assuming that Mr. GULAG was trying to bring his manure spreader of FUD to bear on Devuan GNU/Linux.)



Mr. GULAG has repeatedly defended Microsoft “Secure” Boot even though he himself admits that their Platinum-level OEM partner, Lenovo, has now sabotaged it to prevent Linux kernels from booting, either nearly entirely, on a laptop that was hard coded to only boot if the OS entry was Windows Boot Manager, or Red Hat Enterprise Linux, or on a very recent one that doesn’t enable the third-party certificate that his Linux implementation of “Secure” Boot needs to start up, and in which case Windows screws up your Bitlocker and potentially causes data loss on your Windows partition if you try to re-configure this.



I had another system, the Yoga 900-ISK2 that was sabotaged so badly that I filed a lawsuit against Lenovo in Illinois before they agreed to change it.



My reward? Mr. GULAG’s white glove character assassination, as usual. He only ever attacks defenders of Free Software, and people who write Free Software. He never attacks the rapists, stranglers, and pedophiles of Microsoft and their affiliates.



Peter Bright of Ars Technica? Posted pro-Microsoft articles constantly. Silence. (Tried to rape a 9 year old. Now in prison.)



Jeremy Soule of Microsoft Bethesda? Silence. (Raped a woman in the office, sent her a video of himself masturbating. Tried to force himself on an immigrant and threaten her immigration status if she refused. Quietly slinked away with no punishment.)



Alex Gravely of Microsoft GitHub? Silence. (Strangled an immigrant Latina woman and raped her. Court gave him a pre-trial diversion as pretend punishment.)



Rick Allen Jones? Silence. (Personal engineer of Bill Gates. Arrested in the Gates mansion after police found a Child Pornography dungeon in his house.) Silence from Mr. GULAG again.



I’ve never actually gotten him to offer me his opinion of those people or why we’re letting them form “communities”. The only community most Microsoft toadies should be in is that one under the bridge in Florida, obviously.



He only attacks defenders and writers of Free Software. He himself seems to be currently employed writing some proprietary software for these self-driving cars. Which don’t have a very good safety record. Many brands of these cars run over people and the company goes “Welp, thought she was a shopping bag! How little can we get the family to settle for?!”.



I’ve been driving for decades and haven’t managed to injure anyone. But money talks, and pretty soon we’ll all be forced onto the road with buggy/dodgy software and we all get to hope it doesn’t get in front of us and randomly slam the brakes or mistake us for shopping bags, because it will be the law.



But back to Microsoft… Microsoft has regrouped and changed its strategy, but the clear endgame is still against Free Software, and they have an army of useful idiots to help them.



Using difficult people as pawns to manipulate and pull apart communities is one of the center pieces of this strategy.



But as Robert Reich would say, “Don’t believe it!”.



If it seems like all you hear is good things about the corporate takeover of FOSS, it’s because they’re taking out all of their critics by any means necessary.



Recent Techrights' Posts

On the Internet, Nobody Knows Microsoft and Windows Are Becoming Niche Players Until Data is Shown Correctly, Not Microsoft-Sponsored Articles in Microsoft Publishers
Microsoft controls a lot of publishers and thus it controls information
All That's Left of MSNBC (Microsoft-NBC) is Microsoft NOW
When plutocrats and large corporations (even deep in debt) buy all the communication channels
Accessibility Isn't Overrated
Making things simpler typically means better accessibility
 
IBM Operatives Inside The Register MS and More Shady Money to Follow
The Register MS bites every banknote it can sink its teeth into
Slopwatch: Serial Sloppers and Slopfarms in Google News (e.g. Linux Journal and WebProNews)
Google plays an active role (if not deliberately then through utter neglect and carelessness) in plagiarism
Links 20/08/2025: Mass Surveillance Framed as "Artificial Intelligence" (All Old Things Reworded to Misframe Old Computer Issues), Europe Resists Capitulation to US(SR)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/08/2025: Trips and Permacomputing
Links for the day
Links 20/08/2025: Oracle Layoffs in India, "AI" Scammers/Profiteers Admit It's a "Bubble", Softbank-Saudi (Oil) Control Tech Companies
Links for the day
Social Control Networks Give You False Metrics to 'Addict' You To Them
Leaving social control media may seem hard, but the same is true for any other addiction
A Lot of What Happened in Twitter Was Bots, Botfarms, and Troll Farms. It's Even Worse Now (Under X.com) and People Are Noticing.
Last month we said the same was happening in YouTube
Microsoft May Have Become - at Least Partially - Like a Boiler Room Scam
Giving imaginary salaries using imaginary tokens based on imaginary value (with restrictions on conversion to cash)
In Vietnam, Microsoft's Search Engine "Market Share" Fell to Almost 0%, CocCoc More Than 5 Times Bigger
Why are people still investing in this company?
The Register MS, Paid to Promote "AI" Hype, Does "Sez" (Says) Pieces
every bubble-funded "news" site tries to make it a story about "AI"
Many Companies Are Run by Liars Who Ride Other People's Money
Or steal it
Before CoreAI There Was Builder.ai
GitHub isn't about "AI" (just a bunch of lies and storytelling for shareholders' patience)
Microsoft Windows in Croatia at New Lows
We've been keeping track of this trend for a while
Using the Best Tool/s for the Job: RSS Feeds and RSS Readers
Use RSS feeds. Reject those "modern" Web things
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 19, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/08/2025: Neovim, XML, and Alhena 5.2.9
Links for the day
The Register's Slopfest
Remember when The Register UK (yes, UK) had better standards?
Latest Version of Windows (Vista 11) is a Failure 4 Years After Its Fake 'Leak'
Vista 11 became more scarce this month
Improving Our Archives
Our old archives are still accessed a lot. Making them better is well worth the investment.
Things One Learns as a Litigant in Person at the UK High Court
Don't fear the official manuals
Slopwatch: Lots of Fake Articles From Fake "Linux" Sites and About "Linux"
Google says it's committed to "AI" (it means slop, not AI); that seems like an excuse to dodge accountability
Links 19/08/2025: "Eavesdropping on Phone Conversations Through Vibrations" and Air Canada in Chaos
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/08/2025: Niche Spaces and "AI Pasta Sauce"
Links for the day
Links 19/08/2025: "NASA Is Giving Up on Climate Change Science" and "Earth's Continents Are Drying Out at an Unprecedented Rate"
Links for the day
Microsoft said “GitHub and its leadership team will continue its mission as part of Microsoft’s CoreAI organisation.” But it's just an empty shell created earlier this year.
In short, it's not too clear what Microsoft has just done except dumping GitHub - i.e. mostly a Web site that loses a ton of money (it always lost money) - into some mysterious new bucket
Phil Wyett evidence & Debian Zizian plagiarism, modern slavery tendencies
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
IBM Layoffs in MCC, or Marketing, Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
IBM and Microsoft inflate their share price by circular financing
In Many Countries People Move Away From Vista 11
Vista 11 has been available for download for 4 years already, but adoption has been poor
Desktops/Laptops Fall to All-Time Lows in the UK, So Why Does British Media Quote a Famous Criminal on "End of the Smartphone Era"?
mobile usage (for Web access) has never been higher, based on an Irish surveyor, statCounter
The Groklaw Web Site Has Been Hijacked by Scammers
Groklaw.net isn't a safe site to access at this time
The Register MS gets Lazy, Uses Slop
Unlike 3-D renderings or "Classic" CG, slop images aren't quite original and definitely not fair use
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 18, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, August 18, 2025
Online Safety Act Does Not Tackle the Worst (and Biggest) Culprits
if our governments are serious about tackling online harms, then they need to look closely at GAFAM and social control media giants
Chat Control (1 and 2) in the European Union Sends the Wrong Message
This is an EU law
Slopwatch: Google News and Serial Sloppers (Fake Articles About "Linux")
Calling out the culprits
Gemini Links 19/08/2025: Digital Legacy and Chat Control
Links for the day
English Law Misused by Americans and Irishmen Against Brits is Unfair
There's always a way to improve existing laws
Overly Maximalist, Expensive, Localised Patent Law is Dooming Western Companies, Argue 3-D Printing Champions
We've long warned (over 7 years already!) that China's approach to patents will impress WIPO by gaming the totals but will doom the West
Links 18/08/2025: "Microsoft Store" Gets Increasingly Hostile, "Cracking Abandonware DRM"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/08/2025: Summer "Gone" and Web Reposts in Gemini
Links for the day
Microsoft's Windows in Gabon: Still Moving Down
What is this Unknown? Who knows...
Links 18/08/2025: LLM Reputation Damaged, Australia Catches Google Foul Play
Links for the day
Geeks Like GNU/Linux
The technical community seems to be consolidating and rallying around GNU/Linux
GNU/Linux is 486 in Ireland
4.86% that is
End of Reliable Media
it makes the world a worse place, it renders the Web a misinformation machine
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 17, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 17, 2025
GitHub Won't Last Much Longer
Many things at Microsoft are going to go the way of the Skype (or "dodo"). GitHub will be among those.
We've Never Used Large Language Model (LLM)
we just never used an LLM
"Secure Boot" is a Security Problem, Not a Solution
These people don't try to improve security but to undermine security
Gemini Links 18/08/2025: Retro and Endless Escape from the WWW
Links for the day