OceanHero extension not working

[rubens94]

Hi, I installed an extension called OceanHero, it basically works like this: you use their search engine and they get money from the ads, then they use half of that money to collect plastic from the oceans.
Unfortunately it doesn't work anymore, when I open the search page I can't click on any button. I tried installing a similar extension and had the same issue, so I guess it could be related to my browser settings.
Could someone help me on this?
Thanks

[luetage]

@rubens94 In vivaldi://settings/tab under “New Tab” select startpage and tick “controlled by extension,” then it will work.

[Eggcorn]

@rubens94 Another option would be to just use Ecosia as your default search-engine (no extension needed for that). Ecosia also has an environmental mission, to plant trees where they're needed.

Here's the right page in the help files, go to the "Change the default Search Engine" section. And here's a short video about Ecosia.

[Eggcorn]

@luetage said in OceanHero extension not working:

vivaldi://settings/tab

You mean vivaldi://settings/tabs/ ?

[rubens94]

@luetage it works! thank you so much!

[rubens94]

@eggcorn I already use Ecosia on my phone actually, so I decided to use OceanHero on my pc to support both

[Eggcorn]

@rubens94 Glad it's working now. Just one more thing. I tested the extension myself (in a separate profile I use for extension testing), and I noticed that it didn't change the default search engine to OceanHero. In other words: You'll only get to OceanHero from the new tab page, everything else (such as searching from the address bar) will take you to Bing.

Here's how to fix that: Open a new tab. Right-click the search-box, and click "Add as Search Engine...". In the pop-up, replace the text "cdbccfkcpkmimlajcjpodelocoeifjhp" with "OceanHero". And in the Nickname box, the little box to the right of that, type "o" (or whatever shortcut you want to use). Check "Set as Default Search". And finally, click the "Add" button.

Or set your default search-engine to Ecosia. That will still let you use OceanHero from the new tab page, like you can already. Everything else (such as searching from the address bar) will do an Ecosia search. That's probably the safer option. Ecosia will plant trees, when you search-from the address bar. I suspect OceanHero won't, otherwise, you'd think the extension would have already set it to be the default search-engine.

[rubens94]

@eggcorn Thank you very much! I was just going to ask about this issue, now it works fine!

[Eggcorn]

@rubens94 You've got me curious. You're using both OceanHero and Ecosia, how do they compare?

[rubens94]

I think they're quite similar, as far as I can tell. As you can see from the pictures I attached they get similar search results, Ecosia is slightly better because it also shows you the video results in the same page.
On the other hand OceanHero provides you with beautiful wallpapers (the Ocean Mode button activates wallpapers on the search page, I turned it off for the screenshot).
All in all, I think they're both valid choices.

[Eggcorn]

@rubens94 I found an article: "Ocean Hero Review" by No1Reviews.com. See the "Summary" section, which compares OceanHero and Ecosia.

According to the article: Ecosia is better at privacy, and will donate more of the money made from your searches. But OceanHero is better at giving you information about what you're searching for in the sidebar.

[Eggcorn]

@rubens94 I've discovered that Ecosia and OceanHero are far from the only search-engines that give money to charity, when you do a search. I've started a thread about them here: Search Engines that Give to Charity

[rubens94]

@eggcorn cool, I had no idea there were so many of these search engines

[rubens94]

@Eggcorn I'd like to ask you one more thing, I know that these search engines make money from ads, but how does this work? I mean, if I see the ads but do not click on them they don't earn anything? Because in this case just doing searches on these engines won't be enough to let them get money for charities, I guess.
Anyway, I use Vivaldi's ad-block so I'd like to add these search engines to my whitelist, to do so I just have to add the home page right? I mean, if I only add the home page it won't block ads on the results page either?

[Eggcorn]

@rubens94 said in OceanHero extension not working:

Anyway, I use Vivaldi's ad-block so I'd like to add these search engines to my whitelist, to do so I just have to add the home page right? I mean, if I only add the home page it won't block ads on the results page either?

I forgot about the ad-blocker. To answer your question: I think so. To test it, search for "toys". And if the ad-blocker is off, you should see something like this:

You won't have to do that for every search-engine. I think Startpage, Ecosia, Bing, and DuckDuckGo are allowed to show ads by default (because of the "Allow ads from our partners (support Vivaldi)" ad-blocking source).

I mean, if I see the ads but do not click on them they don't earn anything?

Good question, I don't know.

[rubens94]

Hi, I asked OceanHero's support about this topic and this is their answer:
"Like any other search engine, we earn money by showing ads. We show a few links on your new tab page. Whenever you use those links, we receive a small share of the revenue.
Clicking on all ads that you see is not necessary. So, in a nutshell normal, real searches are the best for OceanHero."
At first they say they earn money by SHOWING ads but then they say when you CLICK on them, so I guess you actually have to visit those links.

[code3]

@rubens94 Clicking on ads is necessary for them to earn money in most cases, especially for search engine ads. Some ads even require you to buy something for the publisher (shower of ad) to earn money.