[Tyriar]

Present the extension as an option then, not a requirement, with instructions on how to add the search manually.

It looks promising but if you block access without the extension, a portion of users like me are just not going to give it a chance. Not just because it's inconvenient but I rarely install extensions because it opens up the browser more to potential bad actors when I want it as secure as possible. I also don't want to change my browser settings before trying and the fact you require an extension is just a bad signal of what's to come.

[richardsocher]

Yea. That makes sense. I avoid extensions myself since many of them are super sketch. This one literally changes just one setting and you get the same results if you do it manually. But most web users won't know how to make setting changes.

We describe the steps for all the different browsers in the first link of our FAQ:

https://youdotcom.notion.site/Make-You-com-your-default-sear...

Full FAQ here: https://youdotcom.notion.site/FAQ-8c871d6c99d84e02955fda772a...

[Tyriar]

> This one literally changes just one setting and you get the same results if you do it manually

I just checked and this isn't actually true though, it looks like it also installs a service worker that runs some code in background.js. It sucks I needed to look at the extension's contents to verify that and backs up why I wouldn't want to install it in the first place.

My proposal seems win-win, you can even push the extension hard in the search page if it's not installed due to your concern, provided you allow it to be easily and permanently dismissed.

[bryanmccann]

Hi Tyriar,

Just wanted to provide some more info on the background service worker, though if you've pulled the code you've probably already seen the same.

Right now that worker does two things. It redirects to a survey if you uninstall the extension (going away in the next update once it makes it through the webstore review), and it allows detection of the installed extension since its required in Chrome unless you search from the url/navbar.

And just so there's full details on the restriction here too:

We determine if the search is from the url/navbar only through that fromSearchBar query parameter, so either manually entering the url without that query param, following links without that query param, or by setting your default in your settings manually and searching from the url/navbar will all work. It is just that search bar on the page that gets disabled without the extension. There's also no restriction right now on non-Chrome browsers or in a Chrome Incognito Window.

Thanks for digging in, bringing that up for clarification, and for your proposal!

[hulahoof]

I hope your team is aware how underhanded your approach and responses seem; why not just be honest off the bat?

When I saw this pop up I went and had a go, even created an account. Then I read through the correspondence here and I won't ever be browsing to you.com again.

[jsnell]

> This one literally changes just one setting and you get the same results if you do it manually.

I don't think you understand: automatically changing even one of my browser settings is you changing one setting too many. It is signaling that your target market are unsophisticated users whom you're trying to scam into changing their browser defaults and not know how to change back.

That's the exact opposite of your "built for devs" marketing message. When your message and your actions conflict, it's pretty obvious that you don't really believe the message.