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  1. User picture
    • wehaveitall on Wed 02 Jan 2008
    • 12:15:19 AM UTC

    Why wot isn't for internet explorer

    Alright, I hope everyone reads this because I'm tired of fighting a pointless battle. I understand and respect the opinions of people that people don't consider it a very bad idea to put wot for internet explorer, but how you can rule out and completely ignore anyone who has any objection at all against putting wot for internet explorer is one of the merely ignorant considering the long list of why wot isn't for internet explorer. Saying that we have no reason to object, or saying that there's no reason at all that one might take issue in putting wot for internet explorer is ridiculous, and if that is your mindset after reading the rest of this post, don't reply. Here are just some of many reasons that Wot isn't for internet explorer.
    A. Internet explorer is one of the most insecure browsers ever. It has limited security features, especially in the old versions, and very few people have the latest version of internet explorer due to differences of many kinds. It doesn't block or even help to block dangerous content like firefox does when you view a page or download something. In internet explorer, it's not very difficult for a toolbar to see EVERYTHING you do, and it's very possible for a site to steal passwords you enter. Firefox helps to block out some malicious coding when downloading content. And, since viruses and all malicious attacks are always updating with better ways to launch attacks, updating your browser regularly is important, to defend yourself from these updated attacks. Most people who use firefox have the latest version because firefox let's you customize almost everything, so if there is something they update you don't like besides security, it let's you with extensions, themes, etc. Wot is still needed for firefox however, because no browser can block all malicious content, therefor something to warn you is needed. Anyone who knows much of anything about security would KNOW that internet explorer is unsecure, and THOSE ARE THE PEOPLE WE WANT RATING WEBSITES!
    B. Wot isn't for everyone. Internet explorer has many more people then firefox. If the wot community becomes too big, ratings may become more and more inaccurate. There are only so many people who care about security, and migrating to internet explorer lessens the chances of those few people using wot.
    C. Since internet explorer blocks little or no malicious content, and most people using it know little about security, a virus installed before they had wot could easily tamper with their ratings. Let me give you an example: Let's say someone installed smiley central on their computer. Afterwards, they got wot. Now let's say they rated green for every site they visit, unless it had red signifying highly dangerous. Then they wouldn't rate it or visit the site, This would give them a decent reputation. Let's also pretend they didn't visit smileycentral.com after downloading the software, since there really is no point of going back there in the first place. All that's on the website are links to download smiley central. So now they have dangerous smiley central and wot. Smiley central after being downloaded (which by the way can only be downloaded for internet explorer, since the makers of smiley central know firefox would block a lot of their features) could easily tamper with that trusted user's settings and adjust sites to their liking. They may, for example, rate smiley central green. This scenario is something that could easily happen and actually happens a lot with other software in similar situations. The user downloads something dangerous, then downloads other software whether it is something that alerts people of unsafe sites or software, or just a normal program, that is changed by a virus, causing many interferences, usually leading the user to more danger.
    D. Internet explorer is made by Microsoft. If users trust and/or like internet explorer, they may be persuaded to try other microsoft products. Some of these are security products are security products, such as windows defender. Windows defender is a spyware scanner that catches very little. I only had it for a while because it automatically scans and if you have something very VERY bad on your computer, it will at least alert you. However if a user has windows defender and no other scanner, or nothing but another poorly made scanner, many things can happen. The user could be tempted to try something wot says is dangerous just to see if wot works, thinking they can easily remove it if it is dangerous. That is the mindset of many internet explorer users. Continuing on, they download it, and scan windows defender. It is very likely it will come up saying no problems are found. Then they will rate that site safe, in addition to the virus possibly tampering with wot, changing ratings on other sites as well, as mentioned previously. Another technique viruses use is making other programs look like they are viruses. For example, the virus may make it hard to uninstall any internet explorer add on, or even any program. At the time, the user may only try and uninstall wot, and nothing else. When they fail to do so, they will be led to believe wot is dangerous. This could cause them to complain in forums, advise others to not use wot or worse.

    The list of reasons why wot shouldn't be released for internet explorer could go on and on, but I'm going to stop there. I know of course, if you look at it from a different angle, it may not be entirely bad. For example, if people really didn't care about security, they may not download wot in the first place. On the other hand, people may just want to try it if it looks appealing. But either way that doesn't help. If they know nothing about security and do download it, that doesn't help, and if they don't download it, well then there was no point in releasing wot for internet explorer in the first place. I know you can argue that some current firefox users like to use internet explorer on occasion for certain components not shown on firefox, and would like wot for it, but there's no reason to use internet explorer for any amount of time or for any large number of websites when firefox is available. Almost all of the components not shown in firefox are for safety anyway.
    I know there are some reasons people may want wot for internet explorer because there are a few good things to it, but I personally think wot should no longer be available for internet explorer unless you split wot and firefox ratings. I mainly wrote this though, in response to the people who think there's no reason at all wot shouldn't be for internet explorer. There are reasons, and I don't think you can disagree and say there aren't any reasons after reading this.

    We rate the websites, the WOT staff creates, and advertises the add-on, and together, we make it all happen.

Comments:

  1. User picture
    • Natanael_L on Mon 18 Feb 2008
    • 01:17:03 PM UTC

    IE Tab

    "I know you can argue that some current firefox users like to use internet explorer on occasion for certain components not shown on firefox, and would like wot for it"

    Why not just add support for IE Tab-tabs instead?