I consider the fact that they're hiding the data and using it as a smoke-screen to do whatever the corporate side would like to do at the time or an excuse to play with whatever side project the head dev en vogue was playing with, regardless of what the userbase wants and needs to be 'dubious' from the start. So the world of difference is a non-starter in my book.

Frankly, there needs to be more community input, more opportunity to speak & act against wrongheadedness. It's part of why I prefer Pale Moon. If something is asinine, I can talk to the head dev and the team. They'll either show the community their sources for making a change or put it to a vote of the active users.