You are right buddy, there are good alternatives.

If you want your Firefox to stay as it is for as long as possible, you could switch from the regular release to the Extended Support Release of Firefox 52. That will get security updates through around next April, and let you defer the day of reckoning by several months.

ESR was first developed to meet the demands of corporations for a version of Firefox that changed much less frequently. Over time it has been used to support legacy features (like the Java plugin), and is now the version used for XP and Vista. These days, anyone can and does use it.

More info: https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/organizations/faq/

P.S. If you are going to make the switch, do it now before you get upgraded to Firefox 55, as that will upconvert some settings files and make it more difficult to switch.

The one thing that even the most foolish of computer nurds can understand is when they and their preferences are ignored, is to walk away. As the reply to my concern was not helpful, I've walked away already. If enough do that, even switch to Chrome, and tell FF people that is what they have accomplished, maybe then ......