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Chrome killed my extension and won’t tell me why

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Re: Chrome killed my extension and won’t tell me why

#21

Post by sergeykish »

crazygringo wrote: post #2

It doesn't matter if you're dealing with a store run by Apple or Google (or presumably anyone else): the stories are all the same. Presumably because to make the economics work, review and approval are done by poorly trained contractors who don't have time to do a proper job and need to meet quotas. And with anything security related, there's an inherent bias toward not giving information on the exact violations beca…

Alternative! Software distributions - community maintained packages.

As Arch Linux user if I found a software I like and want to help with distribution I can create package and push it to AUR [1]. This works as recipe - list of make and run dependencies, configuration, installation. Package is not safe and should be reviewed on installation.

Popular package may be pulled to official repository [2], distributed in binary form. "community" repository maintained by Trusted Users [3], "core" and "extra" by Arch Linux Developers [4]. It is evergreen - rolling release. Some distributions provide Stable releases which should be even safer.

Distributions may remove package, block version, patch to its standards. I think if opt-out addons were distributed by Debian they would be patched to opt-in.

In other words - many 3rd party distributions, by users to users, pulled - not pushed, not required to accept all packages.

[1] https://aur.archlinux.org/

[2] https://www.archlinux.org/packages/

[3] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Trusted_Users

[4] https://www.archlinux.org/people/developers/

Re: Chrome killed my extension and won’t tell me why

#23

Post by jedieaston »

LatteLazy wrote: post #19
jennyyang wrote: post #15

This is the behavior of a monopolist, and Google needs to be broken up. Google and the various sub-entities get away with no customer support or completely inadequate support and they are a vital part of the Internet. If there were competition, then there's no way with Google not being able to answer urgent customer support tickets. Because they are a monopoly, they can get away with saving money on customer support.…

So, I thought chrome was a loss making project, and the only reason it exists is because Google fund it for the data it generated and as part of their wider "use our stuff in exchange for your data" business model. So if you break up Google, chrome would have to cut its budget or stop existing. And either way, chrome extension Devs wouldn't be better supported than they are now would they? This is always my question…

A hypothetical Chrome Inc. (or Chrome Foundation) could make its money off of selling rights to the search bar (hypothetically to Google anyway), and, I suppose, donations. Enterprise support would be another thing they'd have to provide (and could sell), especially if they got the Chrome OS project.

It'd be a speed bump, and they wouldn't have the full resources of Google, but I think it could make it. (But I don't know if it should, the open-source Chromium base isn't committed to only by Google.)

Re: Chrome killed my extension and won’t tell me why

#24

Post by ThrustVectoring »

gwd wrote: post #12

What people seem to be missing is that this isn't a complaint -- it's a call to form effectively a union: Therefore, we are starting a group today for Chrome Extension developers to work together in check with CWS. It's not a technical support channel, nor a platform to get attention when CWS is unresponsive. It's a place for Chrome Extension developers to rally together and discuss improving the foundation we stand…

Note that Chrome Extension developers are not employees of Google, but rather disparate businesses, so it'll be difficult to both successfully put pressure on Google w.r.t. terms of business and not fall afoul of anti-trust laws.

Re: Chrome killed my extension and won’t tell me why

#25

Post by judge2020 »

crazygringo wrote: post #2

It doesn't matter if you're dealing with a store run by Apple or Google (or presumably anyone else): the stories are all the same. Presumably because to make the economics work, review and approval are done by poorly trained contractors who don't have time to do a proper job and need to meet quotas. And with anything security related, there's an inherent bias toward not giving information on the exact violations beca…

> review and approval are done by poorly trained contractors

That's the "middle ground" scenario that isn't true for either side. Apple does directly hire employees to do this, so their policies and rules are often the pain point. Google doesn't hire anyone - they have the team that runs the approval systems and will review certain extensions, but it's completely automated for 99% of all cases.

The only people that probably do use contractors are Amazon for their Alexa skills and Kindle apps.

Re: Chrome killed my extension and won’t tell me why

#26

Post by danShumway »

ThrustVectoring wrote: post #24
gwd wrote: post #12

What people seem to be missing is that this isn't a complaint -- it's a call to form effectively a union: Therefore, we are starting a group today for Chrome Extension developers to work together in check with CWS. It's not a technical support channel, nor a platform to get attention when CWS is unresponsive. It's a place for Chrome Extension developers to rally together and discuss improving the foundation we stand…

Note that Chrome Extension developers are not employees of Google, but rather disparate businesses, so it'll be difficult to both successfully put pressure on Google w.r.t. terms of business and not fall afoul of anti-trust laws.

Is this true?

How would this be different than the Author's Guild negotiating ebook rates with libraries/Amazon? It seems like lots of industries have lobbying groups that represent multiple companies -- or is there an extra nuance here I'm missing?

Re: Chrome killed my extension and won’t tell me why

#27

Post by LatteLazy »

jedieaston wrote: post #23
LatteLazy wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, I thought chrome was a loss making project, and the only reason it exists is because Google fund it for the data it generated and as part of their wider "use our stuff in exchange for your data" business model. So if you break up Google, chrome would have to cut its budget or stop existing. And either way, chrome extension Devs wouldn't be better supported than they are now would they? This is always my question…

A hypothetical Chrome Inc. (or Chrome Foundation) could make its money off of selling rights to the search bar (hypothetically to Google anyway), and, I suppose, donations. Enterprise support would be another thing they'd have to provide (and could sell), especially if they got the Chrome OS project. It'd be a speed bump, and they wouldn't have the full resources of Google, but I think it could make it. (But I don't…

But it needs to more than make it. It needs to increase revenue to spend more on correctly policing and supporting its extension store...

Re: Chrome killed my extension and won’t tell me why

#28

Post by fragmede »

danShumway wrote: post #26
ThrustVectoring wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that Chrome Extension developers are not employees of Google, but rather disparate businesses, so it'll be difficult to both successfully put pressure on Google w.r.t. terms of business and not fall afoul of anti-trust laws.

Is this true? How would this be different than the Author's Guild negotiating ebook rates with libraries/Amazon? It seems like lots of industries have lobbying groups that represent multiple companies -- or is there an extra nuance here I'm missing?

Broadly no, because the barrier to entry for being a web developer is low, though there may be some subtlety depending on the exact actions the group takes. A high barrier to entry business would more easily face allegations of anti-trust and collision, eg all of the car dealerships in an area working together to keep prices high and keep competition out, but that's different due to how hard much more expensive it is to become a car dealership.

Re: Chrome killed my extension and won’t tell me why

#29

Post by fragmede »

judge2020 wrote: post #25
crazygringo wrote: post #2

It doesn't matter if you're dealing with a store run by Apple or Google (or presumably anyone else): the stories are all the same. Presumably because to make the economics work, review and approval are done by poorly trained contractors who don't have time to do a proper job and need to meet quotas. And with anything security related, there's an inherent bias toward not giving information on the exact violations beca…

> review and approval are done by poorly trained contractors That's the "middle ground" scenario that isn't true for either side. Apple does directly hire employees to do this, so their policies and rules are often the pain point. Google doesn't hire anyone - they have the team that runs the approval systems and will review certain extensions, but it's completely automated for 99% of all cases. The only people that p…

Apple has contractors as second-class employees, same as the rest of the valley.

Re: Chrome killed my extension and won’t tell me why

#30

Post by historyremade »

crispyporkbites wrote: post #5

This happened to an extension of mine as well, with 10k users. After repeatedly emailing them and getting back different snippets of the policy each time, I think there's some kind of AI or a very process-driven team that doesn't do any critical thinking handling each request. I've ignored them now and the extension is still up so let's see what happens. It's pretty clear that the walled garden approach will eventual…

Indian contractors doesn't have any critical thinking at all. They just look over Permissions and get scared...
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