Ever since a commit was made to EasyList, a conflict has begun between UBlock Origin contributers and numerous mod developers that use the Modrinth platform. This is because this commit blocked multiple sponsorship referral banners on mod pages, specifically on the Modrinth website. Modrinth themselves has come out against this change to the EasyList block list and due to UBlock Origin using it by default, this is primarily a conflict between UBlock Origin’s main contributors and active mod developers on Modrinth.

Mod developers complaints primarily are that the implementation was commonly breaking their mod pages, leading to important support links for players to be hidden, and that the change negatively affects them monetarily as independent developers. Some mod developers have begun automatically changing their referral links to prevent them from being blocked every time a commit attempts so. Mod developers’ are concerned their livelihoods could be ruined by this EasyList change.

UBlock Origin has retorted that the sponsorship affiliate links fit the Easy List definition for an advertisement and therefore they will not make an exception. This is likely because implementing any kind of acceptable ads policy is out of the question for them, as a similar policy is what led to the original UBlock from becoming sub-par and less usable, leading to the UBlock Origin fork.

This primarily raises questions about how or why these mod developers are losing money. The presence of concern implies that their sponsors and affiliates are able to track each individual click or view for their referral links, a practice I am sure most would consider intrusive. We can only hope that this puts enough pressure on these companies and groups to remove tracking from their links.

  • Hexphoenix [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    48·
    4 days ago

    UBlock Origin has retorted that the sponsorship affiliate links fit the Easy List definition for an advertisement and therefore they will not make an exception.

    Completely and obviously correct. These are ads. The job of ublock origin is to block ads. The ads are being blocked, the software is doing its job, the advertisers can get fucked. Ads are brain-pollution and displaying them to me should be considered assault.

    If you want my money tell me why I should pay you and I’ll consider it, fuck off with the ads

    • RyanGosling [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
      14·
      4 days ago

      I know minecraft is a classic game for everyone, but how many players are using an adblocker enough to make an impact? Modding isn’t particularly difficult that only tech savvy people do. Almost no one in my CS major uses an adblocker lol. I know someone who does, and he felt bad so he disabled it

      • robot_dog_with_gun [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        23·
        4 days ago

        Almost no one in my CS major uses an adblocker lol. I know someone who does, and he felt bad so he disabled it

        ?!?

        next you’ll tell me these people don’t keep a gun pointed at their printer in case it makes a weird noise

      • nightshade [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        10·
        4 days ago

        how many players are using an adblocker enough to make an impact?

        Given the context in which Modrinth was created, it’s likely that their userbase is significantly more likely than average to use adblockers.

        The context

        The largest host for Minecraft mods is Curseforge, which hosts effectively all Minecraft mods. They intend for you to download mods and modpacks through their ad-infested launcher, and part of the ad revenue is used to pay the mod creator per-download. However, there was an alternate open-source launcher, MultiMC, that used the Curseforge API to download mods without having to see ads. Even aside from that, MultiMC was better than Curseforge in effectively every way.

        Some time ago, Curseforge announced plans to step up the ads on their launcher even more and block MultiMC from using their API to try to force users to use their launcher. This sparked a lot of backlash because their launcher was obviously much worse than MultiMC. Modrinth had been around before this, but it gained a lot of popularity in the wake of this incident because people wanted to move away from Curseforge. Modrinth was open-source and allowed mods to be downloaded through MultiMC, which gave people the impression that it was more trustworthy than Curseforge.

        However, they had promised from the start that they would have payments to mod creators as well through “ethical ads” on their website. This is a problem for them because their userbase (both mod creators and players) is mostly made of people angry at Curseforge, and thus more likely to be free/open-source software enthusiasts and anti-advertising. That being said, their website is still a lot nicer than Curseforge and they don’t push ads as aggressively.

        Because Modrinth is still relatively small and payments to mod creators only started recently, the vast majority of mods are still only available on Curseforge. However, Curseforge’s protection measures were pretty easily bypassed and PrismMC (the successor to MultiMC) is capable of downloading off Curseforge anyways.

  • kristina [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    38·
    4 days ago

    lol

    get fucked. if i had a choice i would never see an ad ever again. i dont care how ‘ethical’ your disgusting eyesore propaganda is

  • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    20·
    4 days ago

    The presence of concern implies that their sponsors and affiliates are able to track each individual click or view for their referral links, a practice I am sure most would consider intrusive.

    That is how affiliate links tend to work. That’s how companies know who to pay.

  • SUPAVILLAIN@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    8·
    4 days ago

    I’m sick and fuckin tired of Minecraft creators constantly schisming the mod base, be it mod loaders, hosting sites, or whatever the hell else. Contentious-assed creator base can’t be happy with shit, it’s always too something and then WHOOPS, now you’re expected to use this new site to get all your mods, speaking of your mods, fuck your two-hundred-item modpack you’ve been curating for five years, popular creator x, y, or z won’t make mods for your loader anymore and you’re now expected to get behind this untried, untested loader with twenty mods tops bullshit

    I’m honestly sick of minecrafters some days. We can’t come together for shit.

    • Starlet [she/her, it/its]@hexbear.netEnglish
      2·
      3 days ago

      I think you’re being a bit harsh. Most loader and website splits have been pretty justified, and I’ve never heard of any small, “untried, untested” mod loaders. Also, Sinytra Connector will let you use all mods on Forge/NeoForged when it’s done. I’ve heard it already works well for plenty of mods

      • SUPAVILLAIN@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
        1·
        3 days ago

        I think you’re being a bit harsh.

        Maybe, but I’ve also been seeing this shit since Fabric was the new hotness. People putting up banners that rude as shit “don’t fucking ask for forge ports” and shit before the age of Connector mods put a bad taste in my mouth for every spinoff loader away from forge ever since. Also, Quilt, I’m talking about Quilt when I say ‘untried and untested’. (Not sure if there’s a to-forge connector for that, either.) I’ve been looking for a replacement for doctor4t’s Effective ever since they decided they had an axe to sharpen for… Reasons, and no one cult-of-personality modder youtuber is worth giving up a 200-mod pack when their loader pick doesn’t have ANY mods that’d replace what I’d be losing.

        • EelBolshevikism [none/use name]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
          2·
          2 days ago

          quilt primarily split because the other modloaders are made by bigots. this is why doctor4t decided to only use Quilt, because Fabric has weird transphobes on it as far as I remember and the forge team is just full of weirdos. Doctor4t says this explicitly on the Effective mod page. plus quilt is literally compatible with 99% of fabric mods so it’s kind of pointless to get up in arms about it. i’ve used primarily quilt for modding as of recent and have found exactly 1 incompatible mod, which isn’t even really incompatible, seems to just be a side effect of quilt waiting for 1.21 to start updating and patching it

          also the forge/fabric split was somewhat justified too. fabric is comically less bloated and boots way faster than any forge setup. lexmanos is generally an asshole (and bigot afaik) hence NeoForge, and that isn’t really shaping up to be much of a split because pretty much everyone seems to just accept NeoForge as the new forge now.

          also the reason people say not to ask for forge ports is because they’re doing this stuff in their free time and it takes fucking ages to port something to an entirely new platform

  • RyanGosling [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    8·
    4 days ago

    Back in the classic roblox days, all of the ads on the platform were created by players and advertised their own games on the platform (roblox is essentially a platform and engine for you to do whatever you want). I don’t know if this has any relevancy, but I enjoyed seeing those “ads” because they were created by players with the intention of drawing support to their creations. I would prefer that over corporations injecting tracking software to advertise irrelevant products

    Modding takes a shit ton of work, but it’s sad seeing that a lot of people rely on meager donations to stay afloat. I wouldn’t blame them if they decided to paywall it because people aren’t entitled to anyone’s work for free, but at least a paywall won’t affect random users

  • alexandra_kollontai [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    3·
    4 days ago

    We can only hope that this puts enough pressure on these companies and groups to remove tracking from their links.

    Tracking doesn’t seem to be a factor in the linked EasyList policy