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A uBlock Origin update was rejected from the Chrome Web Store

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Re: A uBlock Origin update was rejected from the Chrome Web Store

#201

Post by fauigerzigerk »

K0SM0S wrote: post #136
torben-friis wrote: post #18

I wonder if it's been on purpose or just, as always, their automatic algorithms being imposible to contest when they're wrong. Honestly, Google's (and general tech giants') willingness to let people's lives be caught in the cracks of their algorithms in their pursue for scalability scares me more than any ideology they could push. More and more, we're seeing developers and content creators being banned or demonetised…

So I thought/researched/wrote for 10+ years about possible legal frameworks and regulation for the 21st century; and in the end it seems an untenable proposition to 'force' such evolution by way of law, if we look at the actual history of most sectors — energy, construction, steel, media, telco... and now electronics and tech. I mean it's wishful thinking and whatever 'law' ends up being circumvented. Concentration i…

If it is impossible to prevent concentration (and I don't believe it is), then oligopolists will have to accept some legal obligations that smaller companies don't have.

It is simply unacceptable that you can be kicked off extremely dominant platforms without explanation or recourse and often without even getting your data back.

There has to be a higher barrier to obliterating someone's livelihood.

Re: A uBlock Origin update was rejected from the Chrome Web Store

#202

Post by troydavis »

seanwilson wrote: post #122

Wow, this scares me a lot. So if you upload an update to an existing extension that has many users, if a human reviewer arbitrarily decides to reject the update, the entire extension is removed from the store? Or just the recent update? If the entire extension is removed that makes updating an existing app a terrifying process. Do they apply the same standards to top paid extensions like LastPass and Grammarly? I run…

> Wow, this scares me a lot. So if you upload an update to an existing extension that has many users, if a human reviewer arbitrarily decides to reject the update, the entire extension is removed from the store? Or just the recent update?

I've had an extension in the Chrome Web Store for 5 years and it's been unilaterally un-published with no warning at least 3 times. This is an extension that has many thousands of active installs, is free with no ads, and has specific simple functionality (defines a new tab page) and no access to browsing history or other permissions. It's the absolute best case.

2 of the 3 times, no reason was given. The exact same version was later re-published, after far too many emails. The 3rd time, a debatable reason was given - though again, the same version had been up for many years and was serving thousands of users.

Each time the extension gets un-published, it starts a days- or weeks-long ticket thread with Google's painfully automated review process. There's not a Google employee who simply explains what they did and why (and why no warning was given). Google just chooses from a set of email templates. If you're lucky and/or keep emailing over and over, they'll add 10 words about what was done.

I've had an IRS audit and, having experienced both, the IRS audit was easier, more predictable/logical, and more enjoyable than any of the 3 attempts to get my extension re-published.

(If anyone from the Chrome Web Store team wants help improving the publishing and review process, feel free to contact me. It's so broken that I can't imagine Google needs more input, but I'm willing.)

Re: A uBlock Origin update was rejected from the Chrome Web Store

#203

Post by solstice »

shubidubi wrote: post #170
radicalbyte wrote: post #6

It's time to switch to Firefox as my main web browser. It's faster and generally more efficient than Chrome plus it has the most important extensions. The most surprising thing is that the Android version of Firefox is excellent. So good that I switched from Chrome a few months ago when this expected news first dropped. No ads on mobile is awesome.

I'm using Firefox for a while now (both on desktop and mobile) and I love it. The only missing part for me on Android is that Firefox doesn't open native apps (YouTube, maps, Instagram etc..) when you open a link. The integration with built in apps like chrome has is not there.

Try long-clicking on a link to YouTube. If you have an appropriate app installed (either official YouTube or sth like Newpipe) the last item in the menu popping up should be sth like "open with $APP"

The same is true for some other applications

Re: A uBlock Origin update was rejected from the Chrome Web Store

#204

Post by llarsson »

shubidubi wrote: post #170
radicalbyte wrote: post #6

It's time to switch to Firefox as my main web browser. It's faster and generally more efficient than Chrome plus it has the most important extensions. The most surprising thing is that the Android version of Firefox is excellent. So good that I switched from Chrome a few months ago when this expected news first dropped. No ads on mobile is awesome.

I'm using Firefox for a while now (both on desktop and mobile) and I love it. The only missing part for me on Android is that Firefox doesn't open native apps (YouTube, maps, Instagram etc..) when you open a link. The integration with built in apps like chrome has is not there.

Ad blocking on your first example, YouTube, is actually one of my favorite things about Firefox Mobile.

Fuck watching half a minute of ads on YouTube before the thing I actually wanted.

Re: A uBlock Origin update was rejected from the Chrome Web Store

#205

Post by mthoms »

unityByFreedom wrote: post #95
bureaucrat wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d rather trust Google than Brave.

Same. Plus, even with Brave, you'd still need to install the latest uBO from github, so there's no benefit aside from "I hate Google but I'll still use a fork of their open source browser"

>there's no benefit

Brave doesn't have all the Chrome telemetry (etc) as I understand it.

Re: A uBlock Origin update was rejected from the Chrome Web Store

#206

Post by TimTheTinker »

radicalbyte wrote: post #6

It's time to switch to Firefox as my main web browser. It's faster and generally more efficient than Chrome plus it has the most important extensions. The most surprising thing is that the Android version of Firefox is excellent. So good that I switched from Chrome a few months ago when this expected news first dropped. No ads on mobile is awesome.

I’m really surprised no one is mentioning the new chromium-based MS Edge (still in Beta). They removed all the Google tracking and login nonsense, and it’s fast.

Edge Beta on macOS has been my daily driver (and dev browser) for a month (switched to it from Firefox, actually), and my only gripe is the extension story isn’t yet complete. The MS store only has a few extensions, and you have to jump through a couple of hoops to install from the Chrome store.

Re: A uBlock Origin update was rejected from the Chrome Web Store

#207

Post by Aperocky »

koolba wrote: post #23

>> Your item did not comply with the following section of our policy: An extension should have a single purpose that is clear to users. Any speculation on what the supposed multiple purposes would be? From past experience, is that type of thing something that is automatically flagged / determined programmatically or does a human reviewer of an extension make the call?

That is strange, how does Google programmatically decide if a extension is multi-purpose? By looking into browser calls?

Re: A uBlock Origin update was rejected from the Chrome Web Store

#208

Post by Aperocky »

sgc wrote: post #51
ukyrgf wrote: post #10

Firefox with the containers extensions powers all of my browsing. In a bewildering turn of events, Microsoft Edge Dev powers my more intricate development needs.

I am embarrassed to admit I hadn't heard of containers. Nice to see it is a Mozilla extension. I am giving it a test right now.

It's great, a lifesaver if you will, imagine logging into two accounts simultaneously, when developing, the ability to do that is not only superficial, but essential.

Re: A uBlock Origin update was rejected from the Chrome Web Store

#210

Post by cookie_monsta »

Santosh83 wrote: post #171
cookie_monsta wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Google powers WHATWG and Apple, Microsoft and Mozilla just tag along?

They cooperate for now, but the balance of power and momentum is heavily in favour of Google as it stands. This will only matter when one of the others wants to hold out on some critical feature and find that they effectively can't if they don't want to see their already minor market share plummet. Apple though do have some clout since they own the entire vertical...

So we have gone from Google powering the living standard to the prediction that they will be able to dominate it at some hypothetical point in the future.

Well, maybe. Who's to say? But if we're theorising, I'd say that Google probably learnt a lot from IE's demise and most likely sees the advantage of making sure that the web dev community at least does not actively hate them.

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