This thread is too fearmongering for my likings. The positive message can be the focus instead, not being scared for others, which implies that they too should be afraid.

Pray for world peace instead! For the browser, try asking Nintendo directly (and nicely).

@NightmareKing Google would light your AdSense account on fire, I bet a lot of large portion of their job is just detecting false traffic: https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/48182

@notacc0rd Last time we ran ads, we had a group for users that wanted ad block, probably we'd do something similar: https://browsedns.net/topic/5174/new-group-for-hiding-bdns-ads-on-the-forum

As far as I know, this isn't something on BrowseDNS's end, and it isn't yet understood why this error shows sometimes. It's good to hear that trying a different DNS fixed it though. Other things to try would be switching to Google DNS (8.8.8.8) and connecting normally, trying to update the switch, rebooting it, recreating the network settings, etc.

I don't have anything better to suggest at this time yet, unfortunately. Likely once someone in the community figures out specifically why this message is displayed, better advice can be given. It does appear that this "Feature is not available" message appearing like that was added in a recent OS update, after the Switch 2 launched.

We're working on monetization for the forum still! We've tried ads in the past, but Google marks Switch traffic as invalid (likely due to a lack of cookies + same screen size / User agents). In other words, Switch users look like bot traffic to Google.

Shirts, other merch, or even other advertisers are still an option, and are something that we're actively looking into still. Another pathway are mobile apps for chat / a standalone "news" site frontend (which may be easier to have ads run on). Until then, we are just running it out of pocket / as an open source project.

Sounds exciting, and I'm rooting for ya! I remember the feeling of getting into the specialized classes that I actually cared about, and then you get to learn even more, plus work with people that also have the same interests. It's like all upside, enjoy!

Added webp/avif, and doubled uploaded file size restrictions. There is going to be a tradeoff here though-- we don't want it get too high for any user to upload large files. Maybe large file uploads can be put behind rep requirements / a group in the future.

@wobbledogs54 Good suggestion! Any specific filetypes in mind?

No chance, the Internet Channel was a partnership with Opera, and it is very outdated/unable to handle even simple websites these days

I'm working on an update to this app alongside a port to more platforms (such as for mobile or chromebooks). Has anyone here tried it and/or has any feedback to leave?

More info on how to use Discross is in this thread: https://browsedns.net/topic/6438/discross-discord-on-switch-kinda

Please don't target or single out other users in posts like this.

Created a new room underneath the group group @Counters Joining that group will cause the chat to appear in the sidebar.

We're still not sure why this happens sometimes. It seems to be related to a recent Switch update. It would be helpful if you could take notes when it happens, eg. what date and time of day it either does or doesn't work, what other games/apps were running on the switch recently (did it recently connect "normally" to the Internet?), etc.

I believe @Yanderemenhera and a few others are also occasionally having this problem. With note taking / theorizing, there's a good chance of figuring out what the rules are related to this error message being displayed. You can also try CaptiveDNS if you have a PC on the same network, but probably it will show the same error: https://github.com/browseDNS/CaptiveDNS

And then the only other advice I have is: try rebooting, try connecting normally, using Google DNS (8.8.8.8), launching some online apps and letting the Switch "connect"/sync normally. I suspect it's something that happens if the console hasn't "phoned home" in a while. Like if it needs to make sure that all online services still work before displaying the captive portal browser.

The browser's change.org petition is in the top 8 for all Nintendo petitions on the site: https://www.change.org/decision-makers/nintendo-50

Also notably, some of these petitions have been resolved, eg. the Paper Mario one, without an official response occurring:

So although it's still rather unlikely for Nintendo to respond at this point, I'd still love to see a direct that announces a "normal" browser app. Because user demand could mean more sales and more money for them! And it could encourage a whole subset of "web apps" like in the Wii/DS days.

Also, instead of using alts to sign (Change.org removes these), the focus should be on spreading the petition, or a desire for a "real" browser, to other places. I would also say though, at this point, most people who want the browser have likely already signed. I like to focus on the reasons a browser is good, eg. in this blog post: https://vgmoose.dev/blog/debunking-criticisms-about-the-switch-browser-4535319561/

Regarding homebrew, I don't develop exploits! I don't have the skillset for it. My focus is on making user-facing apps, or websites like this one. An exploit is not a good fix to wanting a browser anyway though, because it would just be patched, and be a potential security concern on top of that.

I'm not bothered by these threads, and appreciate the enthusiasm, but it's also best to avoid creating repeat topics like this one. We can't do much about the Switch's limitations! There's a lot to be said about the Switch browser, workarounds, sites that work well, etc, however, if you have other discussion topics in mind (eg. an updated "How to" for using Google Drive on Switch 2).

Lastly, BrowseDNS is a generic service that supports other platforms, like Playstation, Apple devices, Android (including Peletons / fire TV / maybe some smart fridges), etc. Just pointing this out to underscore how the DNS itself is a networking configuration, and enabling the captive browser in this manner shouldn't be compared to something like a hacking exploit. I see these two use cases as distinct, with different sets of userbases.

@SSL98071 The facebook applet will only view Facebook URLs, unless they're embedded on the page itself.

As you might expect, we can't do anything about those kinds of Switch browser limitations. Watching Rumble is going to be very hard or impossible.

That being said, viewing videos via Google Drive used to be an option: https://browsedns.net/topic/1905/tutorial-watching-videos-on-google-drive (but painful to get working in the first place).

We'll probably move it to use a Group instead. Like joining the group adds the channel to your sidebar (like how @Coders works)

I don't think there's anything wrong with voting to keep it though. Just because a view isn't the majority opinion doesn't mean it's wrong.

@BrowseGPT was also intended to be able to generate images for users in that channel, although we never finished the integration.

I appreciate the feedback here from users, but we can't vote to make site decisions on the fly. The chat system will be revamped though to fix leaving rooms not removing them from the sidebar.

Categories is another separate topic, Personally, I'd rather not introduce an AI specific category unless a lot of AI flooding the site became a problem. To me, that seems better suited for chat (like BrowseGPT works via DMs)

The intent is that leaving any channel should remove it from the sidebar, so I'll need to see about fixing that. I can also see an argument to remove it from the default channels, given how it's not used much anyway.

But we can't just unilaterally remove it only because it'd be popular to do so. Some users for instance might not have any other way to access AI than via the DNS, and it shouldn't be our role to restrict that.

I said this in the other thread, but the point of that chat is to have a place for AI generated images to go. Removing the channel would likely mean people just put them in other channels instead.

But there's also the separate problem of neither of these chat rooms are really used. And users are able to leave any room to free up sidebar space / stop receiving messages. Site slowness is unlikely to be affected either way.