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compare referrer header add-ons

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  • Last reply by SuMo Bot

SuMo Bot
SuMo Bot
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Hi Friends, I'm looking for a way to prevent the referrer header being sent to unknown websites (only to those I approve). I found these 2 add-ons:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/refcontrol/

and

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/referrer-control/

The first one, I understand pretty well, and sounds like what I want. The 2nd one, however, I can't quite understand, partly because of the broken grammar, and partly because I only generally understand this referrer header issue in the first place. I don't know why, seeminly all of a sudden, some websites won't work without it being sent.

Anyway, I think these 2 add-ons do basically the same thing. But because I can't understand the 2nd one, I'm not sure.

I wonder if anyone who knows about these can tell me in what ways they differ? Or are they really the same thing, written by different authors?

Thanks for your help  :-)

Hi Friends, I'm looking for a way to prevent the referrer header being sent to unknown websites (only to those I approve). I found these 2 add-ons: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/refcontrol/ and https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/referrer-control/ The first one, I understand pretty well, and sounds like what I want. The 2nd one, however, I can't quite understand, partly because of the broken grammar, and partly because I only generally understand this referrer header issue in the first place. I don't know why, seeminly all of a sudden, some websites won't work without it being sent. Anyway, I think these 2 add-ons do basically the same thing. But because I can't understand the 2nd one, I'm not sure. I wonder if anyone who knows about these can tell me in what ways they differ? Or are they really the same thing, written by different authors? Thanks for your help :-)

Chosen solution

I would say that the Referrer Control would be a better option as you can quickly disable the extension (it is restartless) and you have a third-party option, so you wont break web pages that need the referrer for going from one page to another within the same domain.
There is usually no need to disable the referrer if you stay on the same domain.
You would normally only want to suppress the referrer to block the domain where you clicked a link from getting passed to the other domain where you go to.

The other (RefControl) is also quite old (from 2011).

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All Replies (3)

cor-el
cor-el
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Chosen Solution

I would say that the Referrer Control would be a better option as you can quickly disable the extension (it is restartless) and you have a third-party option, so you wont break web pages that need the referrer for going from one page to another within the same domain.
There is usually no need to disable the referrer if you stay on the same domain.
You would normally only want to suppress the referrer to block the domain where you clicked a link from getting passed to the other domain where you go to.

The other (RefControl) is also quite old (from 2011).

SuMo Bot
SuMo Bot Question owner
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Lol, I never would have thought of 3 years as old!

Well, I guess I'd better try them both. The one you recommend, I can hardly understand their wiki. And since I don't understand the referrer header very well anyway, I might need a lot of help. But at least now I know they are similar. And I'll make a choice between them.

Thanks cor-el.

PS - I'll wait to see if there are more replies, before I mark which one solves the problem.

SuMo Bot
SuMo Bot Question owner
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