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Nuala, with two As

1. Find out about the Brave browser via a news article
2. Download Brave
3. Search online for more information about Brave
4. Uninstall Brave

right well that was my first toot to pick up a bit of traction and it sure was an eye opener

@SteveKLord I mean I'm not sure it's worth uninstalling if you're settled into it as it's probably no worse than your other options (the toot was mainly a throwaway observation about my own behaviour) but there's a controversy section on their wiki page if you're interested

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_(w

en.wikipedia.orgBrave (web browser) - Wikipedia

@nuala Ah, gotcha.
Thanks for the heads up. Yeah I hate to have brand loyalty to anything but their controversies seem to pale in comparison to Google and Apple so I guess I'll proceed with caution for now. I did shut that auto-donate feature off a while back anyway.

@nuala @calculsoberic I tried Brave and was impressed by its speed and its interesting pay-the-user-for-ads-they-see system, but an ad from it popped up *on my word processor* once, and basic features like frequently visited sites being linked on new home pages not working (even after a couple of updates after I started using it) were deal breakers.
It's a nice idea but doesn't work the way I need it to (yet?).

Back to Firefox for me.

@reay @calculsoberic@mstdn.social
"but an ad from it popped up *on my word processor* once" it did WHAT? 😱

@nuala @calculsoberic 1/2 Yeah, it was really weird.

I had Brave going in the background, and had chosen a low-ads-per-hour option to see them and get credit for them, but of course assumed it was only when I was using Brave itself.

I was working in LibreOffice and one of the Brave ads--a smallish white box with black text, very plain, as I'd seen while using Brave previously--slid onto and off of the screen over top of my work.

@nuala @calculsoberic
2/2 I didn't get a screen shot of it because I didn't have the means to up, and was so surprised by it that I was motionless for a couple of seconds anyway. By the time I'd registered what was going on, it was gone again.

I mentioned it to their devs, who couldn't recreate the problem and also asked if I had a screenshot.

I stopped using Brave shortly after. They aren't addressing bigger issues yet, let alone one-shot problems. 🤷‍♂️

@nuala I uninstalled it when I found it on my computer with no idea of how it got on there

@nuala Assuming you are still looking for a browser, I highly suggest LibreWolf

@Pixificial oh cheers mate yeah I'll give it a look

@Pixificial @nuala
Vivaldi browser is worth trying if you like having lots of configuration options, mail, calendar, and a feed reader.

@mathew @Pixificial @nuala also not open source . And no support for PWA. That is something everyone should know cause I know for some it’s a deal breaker

@nuala destroy and attack brave and its communities
fck that homophobic CEO
:antifa: :antifa: :antifa: :antifa: :antifa:

@ajeremias I doubt Brave's communities endorse the views of the CEO tbf, their subreddit was a wee bit toxic due to a shouty minority but elsewhere (eg on here, Hacker News etc) most people who use Brave are very realistic about its scandals and limitations.

@nuala Did you get the Very Well Meaning Tech Advice from blokes? I made a vaguely internetty post the other day that got boosted a hundred or so times and had the internet very calmly mansplained to me several times

@ak yeah I mean overwhelmingly most of the response was great but jesus

@nuala butbutbut what about your chance to earn Basic Attention Tokens

@nuala I'm glad to read the replies to this and not have it be a bunch of techbros telling you why you are wrong

@nuala I’ve dabbled with Brave on and off but it just seems way too sketchy to me compared to the other options out there. What browser did you end up with?

@merkaba went back to firefox for now, when I switch up software I only move for things that are significantly better. brave originally appeared that way but didn't hit the criterea once I'd got a feel for it and did some more research