Hi bobl2, sites use a lot of different "third party" services for their comment sections, from Disqus to Facebook and numerous others. Are there particular problem sites where you or forum volunteers could look at which one they're using?

One reason the third party content might not load is Firefox's Enhanced Tracking Protection, which is easy to check using the shield icon at the left end of the toolbar, where you can disable it if needed. Extensions are a little trickier because it may not be obvious why one is interfering. You've checked some of the most common ones. As another example, in the case of comments hosted on Facebook, the Facebook Container extension could be blocking those because it separates FB from other sites.

It is any site I try to read reviews on except Amazon. I haven't tried turning off Facebook extension yet. Maybe that is it.

No that wasn't it. Still blocked.

Found the answer in another post. DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials was the problem.

Does that extension put a button on the toolbar to let you make exceptions? There must be some way to manage its behavior...

No, I had to go into extensions in the add-ons menu to disable it.

Nothing noted here works. Clicking the link for a review generates a box saying: "You have chosen to open ref=acr_dp_hist_1 which is: application/octet-stream" It then asks what should Firefox do with this file, the choices being "open with" and "save file." Very useful and neither choice works. I've removed DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials. I've turned off FF social media in the location bar but nothing helps. As others have noted, Chrome does not have this issue.

Hi Liverdiefree, do you mean a review page on Amazon -- is that where the link is, or somewhere else that links over to Amazon? Please provide more context about where you found the link and where it leads.

Could you test in Firefox's Safe Mode? In its Safe Mode, Firefox temporarily deactivates extensions, hardware acceleration, any userChrome.css/userContent.css files, and some other advanced features to help you assess whether these are causing the problem.

If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox. (On Mac, hold down the option/alt key instead of the Shift key.)

If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help button > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
• (menu bar) Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

and OK the restart.

Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

Any improvement?

Safe mode made no difference. This problem occurs on the product page for any product on Amazon when I try to read all the reviews for each star rating, i.e. if I want to read the three star or one star or any star reviews and click the link to do so I get the box saying: "You have chosen to open ref=acr_dp_hist_1 which is: application/octet-stream" It then asks what should Firefox do with this file, the choices being "open with" and "save file."

Hmm, when I request 4-star reviews on a digital camera --

https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B0774KTV1X/ref=acr_dp_hist_4?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=four_star&reviewerType=all_reviews#reviews-filter-bar

-- the server sends me an HTML document (i.e., not identified as a binary download). I don't know why yours is getting switched to a download.

If you access the product reviews page without the reference to stars, does that open normally?

https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B0774KTV1X/

What if there is a different ref= parameter (this is from choosing the stars from the filter bar on the reviews page):

https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B0774KTV1X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_viewopt_sr?filterByStar=five_star&pageNumber=1

Your first link worked as it should. The next two give me "application/octet-stream" with the same two choices: open with or save. Your third link also provides some gibberish above the "application" message.

BTW today the links to specifically starred reviews are working fine. I've made no changes. Tomorrow?

No, I had to go into extensions in the add-ons menu to disable it.

Thanks so much for posting your solution. I disabled the Duck Duck Go Privacy Essentials, as you had done, and that fixed the problem. I can now see the user reviews without having to go to IE or other browser. It's been so frustrating for so long. I am very grateful to have found your answer to this problem.