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I disagree. Reviewing should never have been part of software culture but sadly is becoming a norm. Just because some extensions are bad, don't make everyone s

I disagree. Reviewing should never have been part of software culture but sadly is becoming a norm. Just because some extensions are bad, don't make everyone suffer and provide a bad experience. Maybe provide a proper review system where people can downvote and moderators can ban such extensions. They are so many choices available instead of a highly dramatized review process.

smacktoward 12y ago
But how is the general user supposed to be able to evaluate technical questions like whether their new extension is spying on them? If it appears to be doing what it said it would do, they aren't going to pop the hood and see if it's doing anything else. All you'll get is 10,000 variations of "I downloaded the More Smilies extension and got a bunch of smilies! 5 stars."
- general_failure 12y ago
  If the problem is spying specifically, then build a proper sandbox for network traffic. Make sure the user knows if they want the sandbox disabled (or extensions seek specific permissions). Like I said, there are many options here. Approval process should just do some automated scans but that's about it.
  - shock 12y ago
    > then build a proper sandbox for network traffic Such a sandbox can't be done for this use case. How would the sandbox know what is legitimate traffic for that extension and what is traffic related to spying?
- the8472 12y ago
  How do you know it's safe to install 7zip on your computer?
shock 12y ago
By having a review process for extensions just a few suffer (the extension developers) and many (the users) benefit, because they can trust the browser. By not having a review process a few don't suffer (the extension developers) and many (the users) suffer, because they can't trust their browser. I'm firmly in the "I want to be able to trust my browser" camp but perhaps a balance can be found where the benefit of the many can be only slightly reduced while the pain of the few can be greatly reduced. Here's to that!
- ANTSANTS 12y ago
  > By having a review process for extensions just a few suffer (the extension developers) and many (the users) benefit, because they can trust the browser. The users will also suffer if there are less extensions available because most developers of $small_hobby_project don't want to go through an approval process every time they try to update their extension (and you would need to check every update, or the whole ordeal is pointless). They'll especially suffer if, typical for Google, the extension review team is horrible and understaffed. Google can't even get paid support right, what makes you think they'd be quick and orderly about approving free browser extensions.

smacktoward 12y ago

But how is the general user supposed to be able to evaluate technical questions like whether their new extension is spying on them? If it appears to be doing what it said it would do, they aren't going to pop the hood and see if it's doing anything else. All you'll get is 10,000 variations of "I downloaded the More Smilies extension and got a bunch of smilies! 5 stars."

general_failure 12y ago
If the problem is spying specifically, then build a proper sandbox for network traffic. Make sure the user knows if they want the sandbox disabled (or extensions seek specific permissions). Like I said, there are many options here. Approval process should just do some automated scans but that's about it.
- shock 12y ago
  > then build a proper sandbox for network traffic Such a sandbox can't be done for this use case. How would the sandbox know what is legitimate traffic for that extension and what is traffic related to spying?
the8472 12y ago
How do you know it's safe to install 7zip on your computer?

shock 12y ago

By having a review process for extensions just a few suffer (the extension developers) and many (the users) benefit, because they can trust the browser. By not having a review process a few don't suffer (the extension developers) and many (the users) suffer, because they can't trust their browser. I'm firmly in the "I want to be able to trust my browser" camp but perhaps a balance can be found where the benefit of the many can be only slightly reduced while the pain of the few can be greatly reduced. Here's to that!

ANTSANTS 12y ago
> By having a review process for extensions just a few suffer (the extension developers) and many (the users) benefit, because they can trust the browser. The users will also suffer if there are less extensions available because most developers of $small_hobby_project don't want to go through an approval process every time they try to update their extension (and you would need to check every update, or the whole ordeal is pointless). They'll especially suffer if, typical for Google, the extension review team is horrible and understaffed. Google can't even get paid support right, what makes you think they'd be quick and orderly about approving free browser extensions.