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Comment by splch | Hacker News Reader

I don't like requiring a chrome extension to search, and giving a 404 error on uninstall (https://you.com/chrome_uninstall_survey) is suspicious. If the developers aren't checking links and testing their product, then I don't want to use it.

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Yea... Requiring the default was a tough choice.

You actually can try it out in incognito mode and any other browser. But we found that without the convenience of a navbar search, most people won't give it a proper try either way.

I hope we can drop this requirement even in Chrome when we become one of the default options.

If you set your search engine default to http://you.com manually in Chrome with "https://you.com/search?q=%s" you will not need the extension... but for most people convenience wins and well...

It's tough to go up against a monopoly that controls the browser too?

Regarding the uninstall error. We are waiting to get approval from the Chrome store to update the extension.

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.

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...

> 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.

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!

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.

> 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.

You went to the trouble of showing "To see results and get the convenience of you.com, you’ll need to add the you.com Chrome extension" when you could have just showed me the **** search results.

This isn't making it more convenient, bro. You(dot com) just wasted my 10 seconds.

You're stabbing yourself in the leg in order to spite Google

Hey Mr. Socher, I see that you've changed the site to allow anonymous searches. I just tried it out, and I have to admit, it worked really damn well for finding a pancake recipe. Good luck!

Personally, I think 'know your market' might come into play, at least having the options easily there to do it manually. Many of us tech types would much rather configure chrome to add the search engine, than rely on another extension.. I already have too many, and sometimes I think they mess things up, so less is better imho.

Thank you, we are updating the page based on your feedback :) In the mean time, we have more details on alternatives for you over here

https://www.notion.so/youdotcom/Setting-You-com-as-your-defa...

You can try the search engine without installing it in Chrome. Use incognito mode and put it in the search bar at the top. Doesn't work when its not in incognito mode though(?)

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