I am a supporter of Mozilla and have a longstanding monthly donation.
I was doing some work in TB when suddenly my PC's focus was stolen by an advertisement that popped up. I have several comments on this :
- I object to having advertisements suddenly stealing my focus, both technical and intellectual. This has been an unwanted interruption to my work, extended by my judgement of the necessity of writing to you -- not because I'm annoyed but because I think it's vital to get communication right if you want to keep users.
May I suggest that these ads should only appear as an additional tab that doesn't immediately grab the focus. - The use of multiple domains (mozilla.org, thunderbird.net, thunderbird.support, firefox.com and I don't know what else) is to my mind a bad thing in these dangerous days. It's likely to give misinformed users (alas probably a majority) the impression that any url with mozilla or thunderbird or firefox in it is bona fide and valid. That opens up vulnerabilities for these people when they receive phishing and other misleading content. To my mind it would have been much better to keep everything under one easily identified "umbrella" domain. It would then be easier and simpler to warn users of going anywhere else.
I realise that there will be technical reasons behind your approach but I'm sure they could be overcome. - In the legal blurb at the bottom of that "donate" page that popped up, I read,
"Thunderbird is part of MZLA Technologies Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mozilla Foundation"
... worse and worse to my mind. Yet more identities. You sound as though you'll shortly be another "M" in "GAFAM". Please don't.
Thank you for reading.
Very sincerely.
