Why does Tumblr hate Missing e?

June 3, 2012 10:27 AM

Why does Tumblr hate Missing e?

I assume Missing e and other browser extensions like it increase traffic, so what's the problem? I understand that Tumblr wants everyone to have the same user experience, but why? I'd think if anything, they'd want to hire the developer.

posted by randomname25 to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

I always assumed it's because missing e is insanely fucking awesome and tumblr is super vindictively bitter that they didn't think of it themselves. That WARNING BROWSER HACK pop-up they have for it gives a list of alleged world-destroying issues that kind of sound like a load of crap to me.
posted by elizardbits at 10:42 AM on June 3, 2012 [4 favorites]

It's in the name.
posted by WhitenoisE at 12:25 PM on June 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Almost any large-scale website is going to object to users installing software that gives a third party the ability to monitor, record, transform and reformat the site's content.

Even assuming Missing E is entirely benevolent (I believe it is), this represents a significant security issue if the extension has any security holes, and because it sets a precedent that a third party which has no accountability to Tumblr can decide what your experience looks like.

I like the extension, and agree many of those features would be useful to have built in, but this isn't some incomprehensible evil plan; it's a simple case of many users not understanding exactly how much power they're giving a third party and how that could go wrong, combined with Tumblr being aware that such an extension getting a sizable foothold among users could also threaten future features or plans like advertising.
posted by anildash at 1:48 PM on June 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Going by the feature list, the bookmarker and the magnifier would have an impact on db (by retrieving old dashboard logs that might waste RAM) and storage utilisation respectively.
posted by Tobu at 12:29 AM on June 4, 2012