4 ms·

Have been through a similar experience. Developing extensions for Google Chrome is a particular form of masochism. They really don't seem to care. And things t

Have been through a similar experience. Developing extensions for Google Chrome is a particular form of masochism. They really don't seem to care. And things took a turn for the worst last December when the approval process went from hours to weeks. Check out the Chrome Google group for a sample of the lost souls who hitched their wagon to the Chrome platform and now cry futilely into the abyss for support: https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!forum/chromium-extensions https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!forum/chrom...

yorwba 6y ago
This one looks particularly relevant: https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/chromium-extensions/uo1HZWfHiFU https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/chrom... It seems like all extension developers play the same game of guess-and-check to find out which permissions they should remove, and the unlucky ones get banned for trying too often.
- thatguy0900 6y ago
  When I read something like this I have to assume Google is just trying to kill off extensions, it's such a glaringly obvious problem there's no way any human has seen and okay'd it with good intentions.
  - aaanotherhnfolk 6y ago
    I'm the person at $dayjob who has to chart a course through the recent chrome web store changes and this is honestly my conclusion too. These extensions don't make any money at all for Google, in fact some of them lose money for Google (privacy oriented extensions, ironically.) They are a security nightmare for Google, capable of side channel browser attacks or direct abuse via a permission (all_urls permission can read your emails to grandma.) Google doesn't want extensions to exist, and they also can't outright kill them without creating a new foothold for their competitors in the browser wars. So we get this intentionally masochistic process change. Jump this high or we'll ban you. Now jump higher but with your eyes closed. Okay, now backflip or you're banned. The extension developers have absolutely no power to fight back.

yorwba 6y ago

This one looks particularly relevant: https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/chromium-extensions/uo1HZWfHiFU https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/chrom... It seems like all extension developers play the same game of guess-and-check to find out which permissions they should remove, and the unlucky ones get banned for trying too often.

thatguy0900 6y ago
When I read something like this I have to assume Google is just trying to kill off extensions, it's such a glaringly obvious problem there's no way any human has seen and okay'd it with good intentions.
- aaanotherhnfolk 6y ago
  I'm the person at $dayjob who has to chart a course through the recent chrome web store changes and this is honestly my conclusion too. These extensions don't make any money at all for Google, in fact some of them lose money for Google (privacy oriented extensions, ironically.) They are a security nightmare for Google, capable of side channel browser attacks or direct abuse via a permission (all_urls permission can read your emails to grandma.) Google doesn't want extensions to exist, and they also can't outright kill them without creating a new foothold for their competitors in the browser wars. So we get this intentionally masochistic process change. Jump this high or we'll ban you. Now jump higher but with your eyes closed. Okay, now backflip or you're banned. The extension developers have absolutely no power to fight back.