creesch's recent activity

  1. Comment on The new Firefox is so snappy, even with uBlock Origin enabled! in ~comp

    creesch
    Link Parent
    Yeah I didn't mess too much with it, trying to keep it easy enough to maintain.

    Yeah I didn't mess too much with it, trying to keep it easy enough to maintain.

    1 vote

  2. Comment on Help with setting up a PiHole - I would like to become worthless to tech companies! in ~tech

    creesch
    Link Parent
    https://tildes.net/~tildes.official/1vjt/any_significant_changes_to_tildes_are_extremely_unlikely Any community you want will need to be in the context of what is already here. Having said that, I...

    I'd love if we had a homelab community here on tildes.

    https://tildes.net/~tildes.official/1vjt/any_significant_changes_to_tildes_are_extremely_unlikely

    Any community you want will need to be in the context of what is already here. Having said that, I know for a fact that there are various people on tildes running their own homelabs and stuff.

    3 votes

  3. Comment on The new Firefox is so snappy, even with uBlock Origin enabled! in ~comp

    creesch
    Link
    Feels about the same to me, with a lot more rounded corners. And a few odd misaligned things. The overly round elements and a few of the alignment things I fixed through userChrome and userContent...

    Feels about the same to me, with a lot more rounded corners. And a few odd misaligned things. The overly round elements and a few of the alignment things I fixed through userChrome and userContent css fixes gist here in case anyone is interested.

    15 votes

  4. Comment on Interview: Firefox’s chief on why he hopes a redesign will help win users from Chrome in ~tech

    creesch
    Link Parent
    This one doesn't entirely track for me. Because they also explicitly introduced some new API endpoints themselves. Some of which they must have known will never be implemented in Chromium. So to...

    They also have another problem in Manifest V2. Not only is Mozilla maintaining an independent rendering engine — something that even Microsoft decided was too much work — but they are now forced to support two different API levels for browser extensions. That takes a lot of dev time for which they're already spread thin.

    This one doesn't entirely track for me. Because they also explicitly introduced some new API endpoints themselves. Some of which they must have known will never be implemented in Chromium.
    So to be clear, new APIs made specifically for Firefox that have never existed for Chromium.

    Meaning they already did decide on supporting APIs in addition to just whatever Chromium is doing. Also with they MV3 implementation they explicitly decided to go down a slightly different implementation as well. For example:

    For some reason, people only seem to bring up MV3 in regard to ad blocking, but there's a lot more than that. Background pages were completely replaced with service workers,

    This is not true for Firefox, you can still use background pages with MV3.

    Malicious extensions were a huge attack vector in Chrome, which is why Google began locking them down by limiting the most commonly abused APIs in MV3.

    This is a half truth as far as I am concerned. Even with these API limitation malicious extensions can still do plenty of harm through a variety of ways. I am sure there are statistics that back up the "most commonly abused" claim, but I'd be curious to see what definition of malicious and what sort of abuse they include.

    And to be really frank, the biggest abuse factor always has been the utter lack of proper review processes, even automatic ones, when submitting something to the chrome store. As someone who has extensions on both stores, the amount of shady offerings I had for my chrome store entries is insane. Things like including ad platforms, other shady data miners, etc. These "companies" only do this because they get away with it on the Chrome store.

    I do think that Firefox did lock down extension side loading too much. That specifically makes them less open. But having their own extension platform tightly curated should be a default. I am not even talking reviews done by hand. The mozilla addon platform already does a lot of automated checks before you even get to list your extension. It even refuses to continue if specific dependencies (like dom purifier) are outdated. I have never seen anything of the sort when submitting an extension to the Chrome store.

    Malicious extensions being so widespread has very little to do with APIs, it has much more to do with Google letting it happen by having zero safeguards on the extension publishing process for years.

    11 votes

  5. Comment on Interview: Firefox’s chief on why he hopes a redesign will help win users from Chrome in ~tech

    creesch
    Link Parent
    That study is quoted a lot, but the devil is in the details. For example: Websites that try to prevent adblocking were excluded as were others. Making it a narrower cross section of ad blocking...

    That study is quoted a lot, but the devil is in the details. For example:

    we evaluated uBlock MV3 and MV2 on a main sample of 1,000 websites across five measurement runs beginning July 12, 2025, and obtained consistent results for 824 websites (i.e., websites with valid data across all five runs; others were excluded due to redirects, anti-automation/ad-blocking, or failed instrumentation).

    Websites that try to prevent adblocking were excluded as were others. Making it a narrower cross section of ad blocking than many people realize.

    There are also other aspects of uBlock Origin that such a study won't really find. The uBlock Origin wiki for example lists at least WebExtension API call on there that is Firefox only. There is more specific information about MV3 on the homepage: https://ublockorigin.com/

    What Was Manifest V3?

    Manifest V3 was Google's major update to the Chrome extension platform. The most significant change was replacing the webRequest API with the more limited declarativeNetRequest API. While Google cited security and performance benefits, this change removed capabilities that content blockers like uBlock Origin relied on for effective ad and tracker blocking.

    How This Affected uBlock Origin

    uBlock Origin used the webRequest API to intercept and block network requests in real-time. The replacement declarativeNetRequest API has hard limits on the number of filter rules (previously 30,000, now 330,000) and lacks the dynamic filtering capabilities that made uBlock Origin so effective. As a result, the full uBlock Origin extension was removed from the Chrome Web Store in late 2024. Chrome permanently disabled all remaining MV2 extensions in July 2025.

    If You Use Chrome

    uBlock Origin Lite is available for Chrome. This is a separate extension built specifically for Manifest V3, but it has significant limitations:

    • Cannot use all filter lists simultaneously (rule limits apply)
    • No cosmetic filtering in the default mode
    • No scriptlet injection by default
    • Limited dynamic filtering capabilities
    • Requires broader host permissions upfront

    So yeah, adblocking is still possible in Chrome. But it clearly also has more limits compared to before. Which likely means to in regular usage for an average user there might not be a perceivable difference if all you care about are visible ads and having the majority removed.

    8 votes

  6. Comment on Interview: Firefox’s chief on why he hopes a redesign will help win users from Chrome in ~tech

  7. Comment on Linux Steam client on Android through proot in ~games

    creesch
    Link
    Am I going crazy here? I am looking at that page and it is just non stop LLM babbling on with no links to github projects, downloads or anything. Just went to double check no links at all, just...

    Am I going crazy here? I am looking at that page and it is just non stop LLM babbling on with no links to github projects, downloads or anything. Just went to double check no links at all, just anchor tags.

    Went on a bit of a hunt and finally found one of the projects they mention I think: https://github.com/The412Banner/Bannerlator

    Sure enough

    Claude is used to help with the heavy lifting — writing, reviewing, and modifying the emulator's code and the features added here

    Claude is doing everything here, this is just vibing out there like no other. At least they are open about it once you manage to finally find their repository. Which is fully backed up by the insane commit cadence

    However, this is exactly the sort of software I take issue with in the current LLM landscape. The page linked is already a informational horror show full of trite LLM tropes and no actually information (NO LINKS) so why should I trust the software? They can't be bothered to do a bare minimum sanity check if the page makes sense, they just went for impressive and technical looking.

    Interestingly enough KDE as a project has some controversy today about a proposed AI that according to many didn't go far enough. But, they nailed one thing where this project, or at least the page you link to is a prime example of.

    LLM usage

    The golden rule for LLM usage in KDE is Don't be lazy:

    1. Don't try to use a tool to replace your own judgment, interpersonal communication, or learning process.
    2. Don't take unsustainable shortcuts.
    3. Don't avoid growing as a person.

    The result will be poor-quality work that eventually becomes someone else's problem.

    This is a prime example of lazy LLM usage to the point that I can't possibly trust this project.

    5 votes

  8. Comment on Googlebook revealed and ready for pre-order in ~tech

    creesch
    Link Parent
    I might sometimes think about something while on the move. Do some quick research on my phone or at least have something noted down so that at some point later I can pick it up on my desktop. But...

    I might sometimes think about something while on the move. Do some quick research on my phone or at least have something noted down so that at some point later I can pick it up on my desktop.

    But that is really nothing more than having a tab open with some search results or something as sort of reminder to my thought at the moment. Similar to how someone else might note down a reminder I guess.

    But nothing like really switching between phones and laptops/desktops. Uh I guess that sometimes I will watch a series both at home and while commuting to work on the train. But that experience does not require a mobile OS on my desktop.

    4 votes

  9. Comment on What are your current pain points with Linux? in ~tech

  10. Comment on What are your current pain points with Linux? in ~tech

    creesch
    Link Parent
    Yup, that is why I am very hesitant to use AI in any generative and certainly semi autonomous way. (comment from last year about it) I agree that the terminal is maybe suggested too quickly. I am...

    I'd scoffed at people who ran autonomous AI agents freely, like OpenClaw, but after awhile I grew to trust Gemini's skills until I was basically just a copy-pasting middleman.

    Yup, that is why I am very hesitant to use AI in any generative and certainly semi autonomous way. (comment from last year about it)

    But Linux culture definitely pushes terminal use much more than Windows, which isn't great for those without a programming background.

    I agree that the terminal is maybe suggested too quickly. I am not sure if it is programming related, I have seen people do equal amounts of damage in windows by blindly going through UI setting menus based on what people recommend.

    Whenever I do something new, to me, in any environment I always do try to step back and see if I understand what I am doing. If I don't, I simply don't do it until I do understand it well enough. Not only to prevent stuff like this, but also so that I learn to understand these things for myself. Which means less need to either find random advice on the internet or risk AI hallucination.

    I guess the biggest takeaway is: back up your shit, yesterday.

    To be frank, while also a lesson, I really do think that "understand what you are doing" should share the podium here.

    1 vote

  11. Comment on What are your current pain points with Linux? in ~tech

    creesch
    Link Parent
    That is one way of framing it. A different way of looking at it is that you might have memory issues you are alerted about before it is too late. It is entirely possible that it would also have...

    That is one way of framing it. A different way of looking at it is that you might have memory issues you are alerted about before it is too late. It is entirely possible that it would also have surfaced on windows with different software eventually. Memory issues generally are pretty tricky to catch on to, but are likely often the cause of what people think is unstable software.

    Using memtest86+ basically comes down to flashing an iso to a usb stick and booting from it, the same way you likely installed linux to begin with.

    Though, I should note that while cachyOS is popular that doesn't mean it is the most stable option out there. It is an Arch derivative marketed around performance, but those claims have always seen superficial to me. Anecdotally it is also the one distro I see often these days when someone has some weird edge case issue on linux like yours seems to be.

    1 vote

  12. Comment on Do you iron your clothes? in ~life

    creesch
    Link
    No, but I do dry shirts on clothes hangers so that gravity takes care of most wrinkles. Same for pants actually, grab them by the ends and shake them out well to remove the biggest wrinkles, then...

    No, but I do dry shirts on clothes hangers so that gravity takes care of most wrinkles. Same for pants actually, grab them by the ends and shake them out well to remove the biggest wrinkles, then hang them by the legs so that gravity does the work again.

    1 vote

  13. Comment on Billing for web hosting in ~comp

    creesch
    Link Parent
    Context matters. If one is run by a good local mechanic while the other is a large chain employing minimally trained crew making it only good for oil changes you might want to keep the first one...

    It's "worth it" to them because they can't realistically do it themselves, but if a garage down the road does it for half the price, the first one could reasonable be called a ripoff.

    Context matters. If one is run by a good local mechanic while the other is a large chain employing minimally trained crew making it only good for oil changes you might want to keep the first one around. Paying the premium because they can't afford to drop their margins that low is then not a ripoff.

    If that is the case here, both of us can't really tell of course. But overall I strongly disagree with calling everything that is more expensive a ripoff as a matter of course.

    2 votes

  14. Comment on Billing for web hosting in ~comp

    creesch
    Link Parent
    Fair, I misread that. But, they seem to be open with the client about this and have gotten their agreement. Which, by definition doesn't make it a ripoff but makes it come down to valuing...

    Fair, I misread that. But, they seem to be open with the client about this and have gotten their agreement. Which, by definition doesn't make it a ripoff but makes it come down to valuing different things.

    3 votes

  15. Comment on Billing for web hosting in ~comp

    creesch
    Link Parent
    I just want to chip in to push back on some of the responses you got about it basically needing to be free. Of course huge vertically integrated cloud platforms can be much cheaper and afford it...

    I just want to chip in to push back on some of the responses you got about it basically needing to be free. Of course huge vertically integrated cloud platforms can be much cheaper and afford it to lure in people for free.

    That's exactly how they push out smaller companies and we end up with enshitification down the road.

    One can argue about the setup fee but you will need to put in the time to set it up. 3.33 per month after is not expensive at all. Certainly very reasonable for a smaller operation like yours. I'd even consider it low from a certain perspective.

    Do not forget to factor in your own labor for maintaining the vps though. You want to keep on top of updates and just generally keep an eye on things. Possibly also factor some future development adding extra things or monitoring you didn't forsee, etc.

    I get that it isn't a extra service you are providing and not a main income stream. But making it sustainable for you to maintain and have room to act on unforeseen sysadmin work seems reasonable to me.

    4 votes

  16. Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly - Final Thread for Season 3 in ~games

    creesch
    Link Parent
    huh, never occurred to me to use GitHub as a host for this. Nicely done :D

    huh, never occurred to me to use GitHub as a host for this. Nicely done :D

    3 votes

  17. Comment on KOReader: custom reader software for eink devices in ~books

    creesch
    Link
    I'd like to add that koreader isn't just custom software for e-readers but also available as android app. Which makes it great for other devices as well like my supernote nomad. Which is an e-ink...

    I'd like to add that koreader isn't just custom software for e-readers but also available as android app. Which makes it great for other devices as well like my supernote nomad. Which is an e-ink writing tablet mostly with somewhat limited ebook functionality, installing koreader made it a fullblown e-reader as well for me.

    5 votes

  18. Comment on Best options for domain registrar and static site hosting in 2026? in ~comp

    creesch
    Link
    GitHub does have its fair share of issues lately. It is still an option but for business I'd always ask myself if you really want to go for a free option. Old fashioned webhosting is still a thing...

    For hosting, I was considering GitHub Pages, since it's free and just built in to GitHub.

    GitHub does have its fair share of issues lately. It is still an option but for business I'd always ask myself if you really want to go for a free option.

    Old fashioned webhosting is still a thing and doesn't have to be expensive either. For example Hetzner has an offering that starts at $2 per month. They also do offer domain registration if you want to combine it into one package.
    Porkbun which is mentioned by a bunch of others for the domain has a similar static website offering.

    Also, have you taken email into account? I assume the owner might want to receive mail for the domain so you'd want to do some mailhosting. Hetzner provides mail hosting in their offering (though I don't know about the quality).

    1 vote

  19. Comment on What are your current pain points with Linux? in ~tech

    creesch
    Link Parent
    If you go down setting up a home server, I am personally a fan of unraid. It is not free, but takes away a lot of the technical aspects of managing a home server and NAS. You can run a variety of...

    If you go down setting up a home server, I am personally a fan of unraid. It is not free, but takes away a lot of the technical aspects of managing a home server and NAS. You can run a variety of things on it through docker containers.

    There are other options, but most of them do require significant more work to setup and maintain.

    As far as hardening goes. I simply don't expose my home server to the internet from the outside. Instead I have a VPN connection setup, something my router supports with wireguard. But unraid comes with built in tailscale support as well (tailscale is also available on other platforms).

    That basically takes away the worry that I am exposing too much by accident.

    2 votes

  20. Comment on What are your "how on earth did I not learn this sooner" tech moments? in ~tech

    creesch
    Link Parent
    Holy shit, I have been using technology for decades now and most of the stuff in this thread I know. Except for triple clicking, that is pretty awesome.

    In addition to this, in most contexts double clicking selects the word, triple clicking selects the line.

    Holy shit, I have been using technology for decades now and most of the stuff in this thread I know. Except for triple clicking, that is pretty awesome.

    6 votes