Basilisk Development Update

[Basilisk-Dev]

After a lot of thought, I've decided that I need to take a step back from active Basilisk development for the foreseeable future.

This does not mean the project is being abandoned. I still intend to release new versions of Basilisk when new UXP releases occur, review and fix bug reports when possible, address important regressions, and generally keep the browser maintained. What I am stepping away from is regular feature development, large architectural projects, and day-to-day involvement in community and forum discussions unless someone directly asks for my input.

Over the past several months, I've been dealing with a combination of personal, professional, and mental health challenges that have significantly reduced the time and energy I can dedicate to volunteer work.

I also want to acknowledge something that has been bothering me. The stress I've been under has affected how I've interacted with people on the forums and in the community. Looking back, there have been times where I was more argumentative, dismissive, or short-tempered than I should have been. For those interactions, I apologize. Stress may explain my behavior, but it does not excuse it, and I recognize that I have not always been the easiest person to work with lately.

For now, I need to focus on my family, my health, and my career. The project will continue to receive maintenance updates and releases, but active development will be taking a back seat while I get those areas of my life back into a better place.

Thank you to everyone who has reported bugs, tested builds, and provided useful feedback over the years. Your reports have helped improve Basilisk, Pale Moon, and UXP as a whole, and will continue to be valuable going forward.

I am not disappearing. I just need to slow down for a while.

Thanks.

[Gemmaugr]

Take your time and get well and sorted! We'll be here.

[athenian200]

I also want to acknowledge something that has been bothering me. The stress I've been under has affected how I've interacted with people on the forums and in the community. Looking back, there have been times where I was more argumentative, dismissive, or short-tempered than I should have been. For those interactions, I apologize. Stress may explain my behavior, but it does not excuse it, and I recognize that I have not always been the easiest person to work with lately.

I mean, I really didn't notice your behavior being terrible, but honestly people around here are usually so stressed out or passionate that maybe that's why it didn't stand out to me... I can definitely see how being here would wear on your nerves.

Anyway, take care, and don't worry too much about how you come across if you do come back. No one is perfect, and I think people around here tend to understand that pretty well even if they do tend to argue and complain a lot.

[sofrosune]

All the best, Basilisk-Dev.

[Mark-PM]

Best wishes also from my side! i'm staying tuned here, appreciateing also any minor fix or update.

[gabrgv]

Frankly, I felt a little sad reading this, yet, I think anyone can surely comprehend you wanting to prioritize your family and your work over a project that I guess didn't even earn you no financial return. Family and real life business is what really matters, after all. That, by the way—that is, financially contributing to Basilisk,—is something I always intended to do, because it took me out of the dead end I was in with relation to Web browsers for good: finally, I found a browser I can trust and with whose development "philosophy" I agree. I just haven't donated yet because it's actually hard to buy Monero from my country's fiat (which is pretty much worthless compared to Euro and US Dollar) and I really wanted to avoid CEXs and getting mixed with Bitcoin and other coins. Things are better now, though.

Moreover, I intend to contribute, in time to come, with little man-made coding, which I'm presently learning to do the good old-fashioned way, to the contempt of some.

Off-topic:
But, just to clear things out,—as I'm concernedly following the AI debacle I ingenuously started a few days ago, which triggered badly some UXP developers and forum members, and having seen it severely backfired,—I'm presently arranging things out to quit shitposting altogether and to put my own doings in line with the principles I tightly carry. Not saying that anyone cares, or should care for that matter. As I said, just to clear things out.

In the end, I'm glad you're not abandoning Basilisk, which I'll keep using nevertheless and whose development I'll keep following, as it is a truly great browser, and the world ran out of alternatives to Chrome and Firefox anyway.

I hope you manage to sort things out in your personal affairs.

Best of luck!

[Moonchild]

I intend to contribute, in time to come, with little man-made coding, which I'm presently learning to do the good old-fashioned way, to the contempt of some.

If someone has contempt for that, I think they need to re-assess their approach to development.

[Basilisk-Dev]

I agree. I just haven't donated yet because it's actually hard to buy Monero from my country's fiat (which is pretty much worthless compared to Euro and US Dollar) and I really wanted to avoid CEXs and getting mixed with Bitcoin and other coins.

I have meant to set up some alternative donation portal for a couple years now but never got around to it. I used Monero because of the anonymity/privacy aspect, unlike BTC you can't see what I do with the transactions after the crypto is sent to me so it protects my privacy and avoids me risking the chances of doxxing myself.