Reviews for FadBlock Origin
FadBlock Origin by Piyush Raj
181 reviews
- Rated 2 out of 5by Stritch, 7 months agoUsed to work, but no more. I've logged out of Youtube and uninstalled/reinstalled the add-on. I get Youtube's pop-up immediately.
Update: Running 2.0. Works in private window, otherwise I get the pop-up. I'm happy using it in a private window.
Another update: Since I was happy with the extension, I decided to shell out $5.99.
But now I'm getting ads. Granted they let me skip after a few seconds, but it was better before I paid. I deleted and reloaded the extension to no avail.Developer response
posted 7 months agoWhich version are you on, what does the counter say (more than 50)?
Please update the version to 2.0 and it will remove the constant paywall mechanism. - Rated 1 out of 5by Szymon Marczak, 7 months agoIt does not matter whether the source code is open or not. No adblock should be behind a paywall, ever. fishspace is right.
Developer response
posted 7 months agoMany solutions are, and the most famous adblocker uBlock (not Original) now AdBlock Plus is a part of "Acceptable Ads Program" and earns millions in annual revenue.
But I understand where are you coming from. The hard paywall was removed in the last update.
For maintenance and consistent updates, a one-time contribution will go a long way. - Rated 5 out of 5by Kebin57, 7 months agoHow do I pay to get this to work again, I dumbly updated it.
Developer response
posted 7 months agoDon't worry, the last version will soon stop working because YouTube already patched, it's not pushed globally yet so it's still working.
Please update the version to 2.0 and it will remove the constant paywall mechanism.
If it doesn't work before the limit is reached, please hop over to the GitHub issues and create one explaining your problem. - Rated 3 out of 5by Grg, 7 months agoI totally agree with Afzals review below. I dont know what happened (yes i know, new engine/fixes and something) but the versions after 1.3 are working randomly, but mostly not :( . And it doesn't matter what I do, (new, clean browser with 0 addons/testing on other computer/etc. etc.)
Developer response
posted 7 months agoThe last version (1.3) will soon stop working because YouTube already patched it, it's not pushed globally yet so it's still working for some.
Go to the FadBlock, and see if the counter is over 50, if it is, please update the version to 2.0 and it will remove the constant paywall mechanism.
If not, please hop over to GitHub and report your issue and I will quickly fix it. - Rated 4 out of 5by Afzal, 7 months agoI want to support this addon. I don't mind paying. It does work, when it works, but if I have to uninstall, re-install & restart my web browser multiple times after very update, I'd rather just look for another solution that works and support them instead.
- Rated 5 out of 5by Firefox user 5589597, 7 months ago
- Rated 1 out of 5by Firefox user 18128068, 7 months ago
- Rated 1 out of 5by fishspace, 7 months agoI guess the donations weren't enough.
The developer switched to a monetized model because maintenance of his open source extension was too hard? Find one of the solutions on gitHub, it's forked from the same code afaik. Unfortunately that means we stop supporting this bait n switch.Developer response
posted 7 months agoPlease read the announcement if you're interested to know why there was a need to turn to an open-core model.
Also, you're correct, that open-source project still works for the majority. Not for everyone as YouTube is testing geo-fenced patches. Soon, that version will stop working.
You're free to modify the source to make it work but no further updates will be pushed.
The upcoming 2.0 after listening to the customers will be an opt-in model (not a paywall). - Rated 1 out of 5by Jota, 7 months ago
- Rated 1 out of 5by fishnet, 7 months agoLooking into the reviews page for what happened to this addon? It is not longer free --
Worry not though, just downgrade it to v1.3 or don't update to v1.6.
If anything, people already forked the github repo, or better: look for alternatives.
Also dev: if you want money, consider having a donation page, not a paywall. Nobody cares how much you work on it. If it's free then it's not, don't be bothered by people's response :)
But eh, do whatever you will.Developer response
posted 7 months agoYou do understand that I have left the extension open-source by purpose, right?
The source is FREE (and will be), constantly maintaining it is a chore and thus a small one-time paywall and if you are not satisfied with the monetization decision, you're happy to downgrade; it just won't receive further updates. I believe that's a fair compromise.
I had a donation page for a month, but as you're an intellectual, you'd already know if people contributed or not.
It's currently priced at 5.99$ as a one-time lifetime license fee, is that a deal-breaker for you or you'd want a lower price, or paying is completely out of the question? - Rated 1 out of 5by GinaYarr, 7 months agoStarted out working great, but the new update requires you to pay and no longer skips ads. Probably because you have to pay for it to do it! lol The developer used the old bait and switch tactic. He advertised his "free" extension on every conversation about YouTube's ad block detection and once he got enough people, he put a paywall on it. You can use the old version which still works but there are other ad skippers out there that are truly free. Then he gets angry at the reviews because they state our "opinions". Dude, that's what a review is. An opinion.
Developer response
posted 7 months agoI hope you understand how much time and energy it takes to maintain something like this where YouTube is actively trying to shut out everything for such a large user base while trying to work >80 hours on your own thing.
It's not technically bait-and-switch as if you are not satisfied with the monetization decision, you're happy to downgrade the version to 1.3 as I won't take anything down, it just won't be maintained. I think that is fair.
Most skippers don't work, and if they do, I would be happy to share them.
You're on point about reviews, a few of them rubbed me the wrong way but you're absolutely right, a review is an opinion. - Rated 5 out of 5by Firefox user 15223321, 7 months ago
- Rated 5 out of 5by Not needed, 7 months ago
- Rated 1 out of 5by Sonadark, 7 months agoWas a decent way to not have to watch ads but then it started asking us to pay. Sad to see go this way.
Developer response
posted 7 months agoSad to see YOU go. Many are happy to pay a cup of joe to continue using this extension forever ;) - Rated 1 out of 5by Firefox user 18126237, 7 months agoAside from having to reload pages over and over cause this addon is scuffed af, this absolute garbade addon will lock u out of youtube after "skipping" 56 ads and u'll get a popup to pay the scummy developer. Shame
Developer response
posted 7 months agoYou using an open-source extension for not paying YouTube Premium for 13$/mo is not scummy but a developer investing his time to keep the extension updated for a month and now asking a one-time measly 5$ for life is scummy? - Rated 4 out of 5by Fangli, 7 months agoUpdating the review to reflect the add-on's current state. It's still highly useful and pretty much the only easily accessible way to dodge youtube ads at this point, but I'm somewhat questioning the decision of having the same update that started letting ads slip through also include a payment plan. Still a great deal better than YouTube Premium, but leaves some stuff to be desired.
(Replying to dev: I appreciate the effort that goes into this, and I'm also seriously considering paying the fee when the free trial expires. My point largely pertained to the timing of the two things happening concurrently, since - as we can see very clearly from the reviews - people don't take the reveal of "This has kinda stopped working... wait, and I also have to pay for it now?" too well.)Developer response
posted 7 months agoThank you for writing again.
I hope you can understand how much time and energy it takes to maintain something like this where YouTube is actively trying to shut out everything for such a large userbase all the while trying to work >80 hours on your own thing.
It's currently priced at 5.99$ as a one-time lifetime license fee, is that a deal-breaker for you?
The codebase is not the same, it uses a Mutation Observer API to improve the compatibility across web browsers as well as to hopefully lower the load time (100 ms).
If you want any feature or support, I would be happy to do it but maintaining it for free was getting very hectic, I can lower the price barely evening out the transaction fees, the server costs, etc.
Reply: Yes, that's fair, but when and if people buy, I would be able to rotate updates much faster. It works, but of course, when YouTube releases a new geo-specific patch, it takes a bit to unpack, update, and upgrade the extension which is a tedious process (hence the ask). - Rated 5 out of 5by Firefox user 18126031, 7 months agothanks Piyush i installed it a few days ago, as other people are saying the update stopped it working. I removed it and reinstalled, it now works again. If it does have an ad on the homepage a refresh gets rid. Thanks again for you work :)
Developer response
posted 7 months agoThe people are not happy with the monetization, and if you are too, I would love to know the price-point you'd be willing to pay one-time as a good gesture to continue using it or you'd want it free but would be okay if it gets broken by YouTube and stops working altogether? - Rated 5 out of 5by Firefox user 18119981, 7 months ago
- Rated 3 out of 5by FD丶Kudoushinichi, 7 months agoit worked very fine until the latest update. It didn't work any more, please fix the issue, thank you very much
- Rated 1 out of 5by Firefox user 18125906, 7 months ago
- Rated 2 out of 5by DrDerp, 7 months agoThis was working great until the newest update. Now it does nothing.
- Rated 1 out of 5by Firefox user 12185147, 7 months ago
- Rated 1 out of 5by Sam, 7 months agoMy friend, we are all using this extension to avoid paying for YouTube. If you think we'll pay for an extension instead, you're sorely mistaken.
Developer response
posted 7 months agoIt's currently priced at 5.99$ as a one-time lifetime license fee with guaranteed non-stop support for at least 12 months. That's 167.88$ for YouTube Premium, is that still a deal-breaker for you? - Rated 1 out of 5by Daniel, 7 months agoLicense is stated to be MPL 2.0 but Source Code for the most recent version 1.5 is not made available. License Information should be updated.
Developer response
posted 7 months agoThe license requires that Modifications (as defined in Section 1.10 of the license) must be licensed under the MPL and made available to anyone to whom you distribute the Source Code. However, new files containing no MPL-licensed code are not Modifications, and therefore do not need to be distributed under the terms of the MPL, even if you create a Larger Work (as defined in Section 1.7) by using, compiling, or distributing the non-MPL files together with MPL-licensed files. This allows, for example, programs using MPL-licensed code to be statically linked to and distributed as part of a larger proprietary piece of software, which would not generally be possible under the terms of stronger copyleft licenses. (verbatim from https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/MPL/2.0/FAQ/)
Edit: Don't leave bad reviews on technicals if you are not sure