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I built a platform for discovering and sharing Chrome extension collections

webextension.net

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Re: I built a platform for discovering and sharing Chrome extension collections

#21

Post by amelius »

aragonite wrote: post #9
collinvandyck76 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which of your single use extensions was causing you to like things on Facebook?

Not the GP, but just last week Google automatically removed a single use extension ( https://readermode.io ) from my browser after flagging it as malware (as I recall the extension updated itself a day before the removal). The extension has also been taken down from the Chrome web store ( https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/reader-mode/llimhhc... ) though Google hasn't provided any details about what it was doin…

I heard (on HN) that often an extension changes owners just before turning bad. Curious if that was the case here.

Re: I built a platform for discovering and sharing Chrome extension collections

#22

Post by cynicalsecurity »

collinvandyck76 wrote: post #4
richrichardsson wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I found it more trustworthy to code my own extensions I used to have a ton of little single use extensions that I barely ever used but thought at the time of installation, ”that could be useful one day". Then I started noticing I was liking really random shit on Facebook. That immediately ceased when I uninstalled all but Bitwarden, Leechblock and uBlock Origin. I will never install another random 3rd party extensi…

Which of your single use extensions was causing you to like things on Facebook?

Tons of them. Custom download page, to avoid seeing the old ugly Chrome'a download shelf at the bottom of the screen.

Re: I built a platform for discovering and sharing Chrome extension collections

#24

Post by CodesInChaos »

shreddit wrote: post #10
nomilk wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was curious so just searched. Apparently Honey would try to get the best coupon codes on the web, but they started partnering with businesses to give (say) 10% off via a Honey-specific discount code (e.g. HONEY10), but Honey would ignore other (possibly greater) discounts, thus lulling users into a false sense of security that they were getting the best deal when they often weren't.

It’s even worse. They steal from other promoters. Say you watch a LTT video and use one of their affiliate links. If you have honey installed they will replace the link with their own affiliate link and cash the promotion bonus without any promotion by themselves.

Of the three bad things they've been accused of, I'd consider that by far the least. Selling tracking data is an invasion of privacy. Deliberately not showing better discounts violates their core value proposition. Replacing deferral links doesn't hurt the user, and isn't much different from blocking ads.

Re: I built a platform for discovering and sharing Chrome extension collections

#25

Post by firtoz »

nomilk wrote: post #8
dizhn wrote: post #6

Not a good day to have Honey in the list :)

Was curious so just searched. Apparently Honey would try to get the best coupon codes on the web, but they started partnering with businesses to give (say) 10% off via a Honey-specific discount code (e.g. HONEY10), but Honey would ignore other (possibly greater) discounts, thus lulling users into a false sense of security that they were getting the best deal when they often weren't.

Sigh, and I was just thinking about installing it. Time to find another one, or perhaps it will also fall to Goodhart’s Law.

Re: I built a platform for discovering and sharing Chrome extension collections

#27

Post by RustySpottedCat »

amelius wrote: post #14
franze wrote: post #2

I found it more trustworthy to code my own extensions via ChatGPT. These are the last 2 ones. I pretty much dont care if people use them, as the mostly fulfill my own usecases. https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/comparative-chatgpt... https://thisismy.franzai.com/ The cost of (small) software is fast approaching 0, and it can be faster now to code your own solution, instead of looking for one that nearly mostly…

I'm too scared to download extensions, so I use bookmarklets (on Firefox). But I like your suggestion of using ChatGPT to write extensions.

Tampermonkey scripts with chatgpt is even faster. Adding a functionality to a website just by pasting the site's html in chatgpt and in 2min I get what I need.

Re: I built a platform for discovering and sharing Chrome extension collections

#28

Post by croes »

franze wrote: post #2

I found it more trustworthy to code my own extensions via ChatGPT. These are the last 2 ones. I pretty much dont care if people use them, as the mostly fulfill my own usecases. https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/comparative-chatgpt... https://thisismy.franzai.com/ The cost of (small) software is fast approaching 0, and it can be faster now to code your own solution, instead of looking for one that nearly mostly…

Your cost but not the cost.

Re: I built a platform for discovering and sharing Chrome extension collections

#29

Post by 369548684892826 »

CodesInChaos wrote: post #24
shreddit wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s even worse. They steal from other promoters. Say you watch a LTT video and use one of their affiliate links. If you have honey installed they will replace the link with their own affiliate link and cash the promotion bonus without any promotion by themselves.

Of the three bad things they've been accused of, I'd consider that by far the least. Selling tracking data is an invasion of privacy. Deliberately not showing better discounts violates their core value proposition. Replacing deferral links doesn't hurt the user, and isn't much different from blocking ads.

As a user that might use referral links to support the youtube channel, I do feel in an indirect way this does hurt the user

Re: I built a platform for discovering and sharing Chrome extension collections

#30

Post by oefrha »

franze wrote: post #16
polotics wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha exactly! Except I didnt bother to publish mine on chromewebstore, it's just on gitlab: https://gitlab.com/natural_aliens/geminiwrap_plugin ...it makes Gemini-Chat voice dictation a bit more useful. My other one, the remove-youtube-shorts, is almost an one-liner, so I didnt even publish it it's too trivial I think. Everyone just make your own!

Yeah, creating the marketing screenshots and filling out the publishing form takes longer nowadays then coding the actual extension.

I was updating my Chrome Web Store extensions to MV3 the other day. Had to fill a fair bit of new stuff. Then one dead simple extension I haven’t touched in a decade got its update rejected due to “description provided is insufficient to understand the functionality of the item”, even though anyone who bothered to seek it out absolutely would have no trouble understanding what it does (according to analytics on the dashboard, there are a grand total of ~20 active users and a couple hundred throughout its lifetime), never mind what those lay reviewers think. The review process is really dumb.
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