alt Hacker NewsGitHub backs down, kills Copilot pull-request ads after backlash
Comments
I guess it's time to consider ditching GitHub. Everything that are purchased by Microsoft ware destined to be rotten.
This is how these kinds of companies operate; push the limit until customers start complaining, then you back off a little bit. They've still advanced to that line, of course, but now the userbase can be conditioned for the next push so that "a little bit worse than before" feels normal.
Microsoft will probably try to sneak it back in later. They've done that with other intrusions.
Migrating away from Github just increased in priority.
Calling advertisements "product tips" as if everybody is too stupid to understand what that means.
They created an amazing technology that oftentimes is indistinguishable from magic and then use it to deliver ads and - sorry about the tangent - kill people.
This really is the quote of the century:
> The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads
What a waste.
> GitHub does not and does not plan to include advertisements in GitHub
They already did! https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/65245
Microslop is clearly flailing. They were first movers with the OAI investment but OAI is doing fine on its own and microslop failed to capitalize on that early momentum. Now they’re resorting to increasingly desperate measures across their product portfolio to stay relevant.
I just saw the headline fly by yesterday and thought that this was just another dumb bug in what is the slow decline of GitHub. To find out today that this was very much intentional is even worse.
Microsoft is seriously the worst offender in shoving AI down everyone's throats.
I'm pro-AI adoption but the way Microsoft distastefully forces Copilot into everything is how you get people to hate AI.
I’m guessing product teams are told by upper management to AI-fy every product they own. Teams are then rushed to just get something out there whether they make sense or not.
Would you like Copilot to generate ads?
[Yes] [Maybe later]
> We identified a programming logic issue with a GitHub Copilot coding agent tip that surfaced in the wrong context within a pull request comment. We have removed agent tips from pull request comments moving forward.
Why does this read as they are saying it was a mistake ? Because it absolutely wasn't, and it will absolutely happen again, maybe just less obvious next time.
Microsoft, how cheap minded you have to be to understand that you don't need ads? You already had everything you need to grow without slapping ads everywhere.
You had everything great. Xbox, Windows, Office,... and somehow in a short span of time you managed to enshittify everything. Focus on you core strength. Ads is not one of them. And the combination Ads+Ai it is not either. Stop ruining great things. You had - still have - great potential to have a competitive advantage over others yet you fall for these shitty practices.
I believe, if you had the chance, you would put ads on the C# compiler too.
Remember when they wanted to charge for self hosted runners and “backed down”, let’s see how long it lasts
The lack of market understanding by the person that thought this “feature” was a good idea is staggering. There was never a world where developers would think this is a good idea.
It’s good they walked it back, but the fact it was implemented in the first place is a signal of their thinking and inexcusable in itself.
Trust is easier to lose than to gain, and Microdoft continues to break trust.
But why were they running unpaid ads for third party services? It makes no sense
"You're just a bunch of fanatic, Linux obsessed Microsoft haters living in the past. Microsoft are the good guys now."
-- ca. everyone here, during the GitHub acquisition
GitLab team on other hand is unyielding, they love adding their "Closes #" in MRs and don't care about people that ask to get rid of it.
How long will take GitHub to backtrack on the "Allow GitHub to use my data for AI model training" aggressive setting?
So, after Windows cleanup announcement nobody at Github thought "may be we should review all our copilot integrations to avoid another embarrassment for MS" ?
That shows either it was just a Windows org announcement and not a culture change at MS or it was just an empty promise to temporarily deflect mounting criticism.
Either way it is disappointment for anyone who thought it was a genuine case of introspection and change of heart at MS.
I moved almost everything off of GitHub when MS bought it. Go to GitLab or CodeBerg, depending...
> Hearing feedback from the community following Manson's post and the kerfuffle it generated, Rogers said, has helped him realize that "on reflection," letting Copilot make changes to PRs written by a human without their knowledge "was the wrong judgement call."
Thankfully, they need the community feedback to realize it was wrong. It was so hard to guess it was wrong without the feedback! It's good to know these people are in charge of building Copilot.
> Martin Woodward, VP of Developer Relations, GitHub, said in a statement: "GitHub does not and does not plan to include advertisements in GitHub. We identified a programming logic issue with a GitHub Copilot coding agent tip that surfaced in the wrong context within a pull request comment. We have removed agent tips from pull request comments moving forward."
What a joke. It literally went in and edited the PR description 8 minutes after the user submitted it.
That's not a tip somehow ending up in the wrong context. If it were it would have happened at submission time. At least be honest. Yuck.
Updated to add on March 31: Martin Woodward, VP of Developer Relations, GitHub, said in a statement: "GitHub does not and does not plan to include advertisements in GitHub. We identified a programming logic issue with a GitHub Copilot coding agent tip that surfaced in the wrong context within a pull request comment. We have removed agent tips from pull request comments moving forward."
Wow, well that is clearly a bald-faced lie.
It's great that they backed down, but they still did it in the first place. GitHub is on borrowed time now; my own repos are insignificant, but I'll definitely look to move somewhere else this year, and I'm sure many others will too.
"Updated: Microsoft has done a 180. Following backlash from developers, GitHub has removed Copilot's ability to stick ads - what it calls "tips" - into any pull request that invokes its name."
I'm not suprised Raycast is involved in this marketing scheme. They pollute their own product with ads where they shouldn't be. Whoever is running their marketing team needs a lesson in not pissing off your userbase.
I understand "free services" eventually come to the conclusion of either charging or using ads to finance and even make money out of them.
I believe there are two caveats on it:
1. Approach: to make the experience worth it, so that ads are not very intrusive , done correctly, which, over and over and over, it is proven contrarious to the interest of the user.
2. Relevance: if you are going to put ads onto your product, make sure things are done correctly, curate if possible what will be shown (I believe Microsoft's worse fear would be to see online casinos ads onto something like GitHub, as an example).
I wonder what was the thought process when they green lit this feature and thought it is a good idea.
And what about the companies that thought that advertising (sorry, suggesting) their product through this channel was a good idea?
That just means they'll be more subtle once the dust settles.
I would be curious what Raycast’s reaction is. They just got caught in the crossfire or they deliberately bought ads to be placed with Copilot
The play was to use AI as an opportunity to quietly insert adverts into a platform full of paying users.
The moment your company starts playing a pauper and enshitificating the products I already pay for, is the moment I stop giving you any money at all. Try it. I’m not paying you money so you can try to make more money from me. Either add value and convince me to pay more, or fuck off.
This was a humiliation ritual!
Push push push. When your customers are livid at you take a small step back. Wait for a moment then come back at them from another angle.
I hate this philosophy. But it’s seems to be the preferred path for Microsoft.
The referenced discussion:
Copilot edited an ad into my PR
If a company backtracks on this it still has ethical issues. It didn’t just get away with it this time.
You owe it to yourself and others to stay the fuck away from them.
Still waiting for their next attempt at charging for self hosted runners. That's going to be a pain of a migration.
Microsoft Always Chickens Out
> GitHub does not and does not plan to include advertisements in GitHub
For another six months.
Microsoft github.com should restore classic web compatibility for the core functions (issue tracking, etc) and be native IPv6.
I wonder if the PM responsible for this will be held accountable. Who should resign?
I'm guessing the answers will be predictable and disappointing.
"OK guys, back to the drawing board. How can we market this better? How long do we wait until this WILL fly under the radar?"
finally they are coming to their senses
time is money, save both.try ramp.
This is peak entishitification and a quick way to burn a lot of goodwill and trust fast.
It would have been less controversial to place an ad somewhere at the top of the screen. Putting it in the Markdown feels like a very deliberate and antagonistic fuck you to everyone.
First of all, I find it enraging that dimwitted AI companies decided to edit PR descriptions for anything at all.
Just downgraded to free. Fuck em.
The problem is that Microslop is not THINKING. What is the point of inserting ads? That just increases the spam output. Sure, Microslop may think this helps boost their revenue but many people hate ad-spam. After I started to use ublock origin, there was no way back to the unsafe ads-down-the-turtles approach anymore. Ads waste people's time and money.
the microsoft playbook
I’ll never understand why they ruined GitHub. They had everything they needed - the one place in the world where 99% of open source projects were hosted, where all the discussions happened. A product that people were so used to that it was a no brainer when it came to hosting private repos. And they had to ruin it and give space to GitLab and other competitors. What a waste…