Drivethru, I am unhappy!
========================

The DrivethruRPG website so depends on shit that it loads from other
domains that I cannot log in no matter how many exceptions I add to
uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, or the Firefox content blocking
preferences. And with every second I spend doing this, I resent them
more. And when I finally start Chromium to try and connect, I'm
already ranting as I sit at my laptop. And then I get Connection timed
out from cloudflare and really… I feel like they don't want my money.
Uuuugh.

I used their contact form. When I hit the submit button I was greeted
by a white page. I don't know if they go an email. (I did try the next
day from a phone and that worked – which sort of illustrates the
point.)

Here's what I wrote:

I think in a world where big tech is tracking us, where everybody and
their uncle is spying on us, it is only natural that people start
locking down their browser. I have uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger
installed and I tell all my browsers to do as much content blocking as
they can, I delete all cookies when I close the browser. It's the
right thing to do. It is all the more galling when a website such as
Drivethru becomes practically unusable as a consequence of me trying
to do the right thing. It feels as if Drivethru is betraying me to the
big tech corporations, helping them spy on me. It's a revolting
feeling. These days, I have it every time I remember to use an
unprotected Chromium browser just to log into Drivethru. Every single
time I wish for an alternative. Every single time I hope that itch.io
and other competitors end up replacing you.

If only you had a simple, straight forward website, served your own
Javascript, had no tracking, and allowed me to browse stuff and buy
it. I don't really expect an answer to this email. It just feels
unfair to rant on social media about the situation without telling you
about it.

I hope Drivethru improves. I really do. I believe that change is
possible and I hope that you do, too.

​#Web #RPG ​#RPG

@craigmaloney@octodon.social says:

> Honestly there's some good points and some really bad points to
> their redesign and I'm having a hard time reconciling the good
> points because the bad points are so infuriating.

@jameschip@merveilles.town says:

> oh my gawd its the worst.

@dianaprobst@mastodon.art says:

> It's sluggish in terrible ways.

@mdhughes@appdot.net says:

> I don't know what they think the end-game is, but for me it's a lot
> more itch.io and 'zon for physical stuff.

(Also DriveThruRPG finally flipped on shitty new UI, I sent feedback…
on fedi.)