Are Users Leaving Firefox Because They Can't...Copy and Paste???

[GenericB]

Another update to Firefox, another round of fresh features (cool, PIP). Yet here we are in July of 2024 and Firefox still hasn't bothered to fix a proto-fundamental issue with its browser - the fact that many users cannot copy and paste within it.
This is simply mind-blowing in an era of cross-platform user interactivity. How is anyone suppose to get work done is they can't transfer text (and other) back and forth between browser windows to native apps on device. It is literally one of the most basic functions of the personal computer and browser experience. And yet, Mozilla doesn't seem troubled by this major handicap in their code. Their silence would even seem to indicate a lack of concern whether users stay or go. Over cut and paste. Really? Is there not anybody, a team of anybody's, who can rollout a fix for this. In 2024?

[KellyClowers]

> the fact that many users cannot copy and paste within it.

If this is true, it would seem to be just a case of users who do not know how to copy and paste in general. There are lots of people the education system has failed, in computers and in general. Copy and paste works just like it does in basically ever other program - adjusted per platform of course. Copy and paste of course works slightly differently on Android vs Windows vs Linux, etc. But FF follows the standard patterns in each case.

The other issue would be that some sites, either by accident or on purpose, break copy and paste functionality in some way.  But that is largely a website issue, not an FF issue, and it is typically a problem for any browser visiting that site, not just Firefox.

[GenericB]

Implying that the entire education system is at fault for this issue is wildly hilarious. Copying and pasting is a fundamental operation that most users  are familiar with - if many are struggling specifically in Firefox, perhaps the issue lies within the browser itself rather than with the users. This isn’t about needing advanced technical knowledge; it’s about a feature that should be reliably intuitive (convenient right menu click function being greyed-out is the main issue for folks, not being ignorant about how to access alternate copy and paste functions).

Blaming websites for breaking copy and paste functionality also sidesteps the issue. While some sites do have restrictions, if Firefox is experiencing these problems more frequently compared to other browsers, it indicates a specific issue with Firefox. Users aren't complaining about Chrome or Safari failing their copy and paste tasks on a large scale.

Instead of pointing fingers at users or websites, it would be more productive for Mozilla to address this concern. Users aren't asking for anything extraordinary—just the ability to move text around efficiently, a basic feature that should be reliable in any modern browser.

- A lifelong fan of FF

[luis123456789]

>  if many are struggling specifically in Firefox, perhaps the issue lies within the browser itself rather than with the users. This isn’t about needing advanced technical knowledge; it’s about a feature that should be reliably intuitive (convenient right menu click function being greyed-out is the main issue for folks,

Yeah but this kind of thing is mostly the scenarios contradicting themselves.

If the copy option is greyed-out in some site, it's because the site is blocking the browser from doing it. Be it Firefox, DIllo, etc..., that's an issue with the website, not with the browser.

>While some sites do have restrictions, if Firefox is experiencing these problems more frequently compared to other browsers, it indicates a specific issue with Firefox

Casualty does not indicate causality. Websites made by nu-devs are known to "only work with Chrome" and this could be a way how they do it to intentionally cripple competition: block simple features such as copy and paste. You can in Firefox prove that this is the issue, for example, by disabling the option to allow sites to override context actions such as copy and paste, or by blocking the site from loading its anti-copy scripts with uBO, and then you'll be able to copy-paste normally (this has been the case for years with stuff like FFN, and is functionally not very different than those sites where if you visit with Firefox there's Mysterious Issues(TM) but as soon as you install the user agent switcher extension and tell Firefox to announce itself as Chrome, magically suddenly everything works).

Remember Wall Street's Razor: the simplest explanation for issues is usually not stupidity, but malice money. Always follow the money.

There's another scenario that I've seen more often where once you copy, you can not paste unless you right-click and select "paste without formatting", rather than the normal "paste" or CTRL-V. I'm half-sure this is actually an issue with the libraries and frameworks the issues site to implement "rich text copying", but I could just as well argue that Firefox should default to "paste without formatting" if you copy something that does not have any formatting (two or three words in text, for example).

Even Mozilla Connect itself has had this issue for a time, back when where if I had tried to copy two or three lines of text in the rich text editor I can paste them without issues, but as soon as I copied past the end-of-paragraph, I couldn't paste without "paste without formatting".

[lackey]

I've had to right click a fancy text box because the website hijacked Ctrl+Shift+V.

The lack of standardized rich text editing in browsers is to blame, and I didn't realize people thought Firefox was any worse in this area than any other browser. 

[GenericB]

In this case, FF is worse, that is the whole point of my post. The functionality of copy-and-paste on right-mouse-click is breaking inconsistently, EVEN WITHIN, for example,  Mozilla's own domain of webpages where it will sometimes work (and other webpages I visit where it works one day and not the next). This is why I cannot offload this issue to the lack of standardized rich text functionality for browsers in webpages - I do not experience this problem with any other browser.
This is why many users are frustrated with Firefox at the moment - the problem is being experienced with FF ONLY.
I don't want to to switch to using another browser. I love everything about FF. However, as someone who writes for a living, copying and pasting text from a browser is central to my workflow so if I have to keep switching to Chrome etc when FF fails in this regard, it is only a matter of time before I don not switch back. Given the amount of loyal users who are experiencing this issue (again, the issue is not experienced when a different browser is used, so something in Firefox is failing to resolve something that those other browsers are not), it would go long way for Mozilla to simple acknowledge that a problem exists and that they are working to resolve it.

[g0ld3nj0e]

While this sort of thing is not something I would normally join a forum for I felt compelled to join the conversation on this particular item and I would like to point out the search term that brought me here.

"Firefox are there really that many sites that try to take away your ability to copy or am i having some sort of browser issue"

Now based on my knowledge that is generally not the type of search term I would use as it is really too long and too human for even google to handle well. I was somewhat surprised that it actually did a pretty good job and it's a friendly reminder that things change and you shouldn't hold your assumptions without testing them from time to time.

I have been using firefox since pretty much it's inception due to my dislike of internet explorer and netscape navigator/communicator's demise. Perhaps that dates me a bit but it's fair to say that I do probably feel a bit more of a nostalgic bond with firefox and seamonkey than some younger folks. As you might deduct from that term I have a background in web development so I am aware that some website owners decide to try and prevent users from utilizing basic functions. I have been out of web development for some time but some 10 years ago it was done primarily via javascript and I haven't seen anything to make me believe that that has changed. I'll admit though I really only mess around with things like the esp32 as a hobby that at least keeps me somewhat up to date with web technology so perhaps my understanding is not bleeding edge but based on the fact that I used web developer to circumvent just that not long ago I would say that it probably still holds true.  One thing that i know hasn't changed is that the folks up in arms about users "stealing content" are generally not contributing a whole hell of a lot worth stealing. Now you have robots, scraping tools and AI to try and prevent now too so good luck with safeguarding whatever.

Anyways, GenericB has a very valid point. I have been dealing with this issue far longer than I ever imagined I might. To me it's an annoyance encountered when I am working on a project and I have too much crap on my desk to move the keyboard back so I use onboard and the mouse to look up what ever I need. I remember the first time I noticed it and I did a little digging. Not finding any practical info on resolving the issue I forgot about it and figured it would likely go away with an update. I also considered that some userscript I was running or extension could be inadvertently causing the issue.

Well that was some time ago and I have changed my preferred operating system quite a few times and even now I am just settling for xubuntu in search of something that might well no longer exist. The point being here that all along that journey i kept expecting to be driving without a keyboard and discover that it had returned and i would no longer rely on a add-on or extension to restore a function that has always been there since Microsoft Office v3.0.

I'll admit that of the list of computer issues that annoy me it's waaaaaaay down at the bottom.  My current number one would be an issue I believe to be related to the linux kernel that causes system to inexplicably freeze for no apparent reason with very little relevant log information. I know full well that this effects many people due to the time I have dedicated trying to resolve an ever present issue on every machine I own and what seems to be every linux distribution... i have tried and it's more than a handful. Knowing that there are things like that are being worked on does make me aware that the greyed out copy is small potatoes but also such a basic and fundamental aspect of a GUI that it becomes more of a mystery about what exactly could be causing it. I am sure that somewhere someone is down a rabbit hole that has them questioning if not their sanity surely their brains ability to retain information on aspects of computing and programming in a painfully uncomfortable journey that started from simply.... "Okay now how hard can this possibly be to fix."

[GenericB]

Good memories thinking of Netscape Navigator. 
As a science communicator, this computer issue unfortunately affects my workflow immensely as I often need to copy text from websites to documents. Not being able to do so with mouse function grounds productivity to a halt.