Thank You

[my-password-is-password]

Just read the bad news and wanted to say thank you for all your hard work and for the awesome extension. Made my github account to request 1 feature and never comeback but stuck around because I saw you were a cool guy. Wish I could have helped but I'm nowhere near your level.

:+1:

[jonvuri]

Seconded. This is one of the only extensions I've installed in a while and one of the few that's really impressed me. The Adblock space sorely needed some interesting disruption and this has been a great way to do it.

I might fork this and pick it up for continued development but for the next short while at least my plate is very full with other things.

[r35p3ct]

Thank you for your work! This is the most important extension to my browser!

[ghost]

Raymond, thank you very much for creating the best extension ever!

Needless to say that I'm extremely sad about your decision. Not long ago you were planning for version 1.0 and porting it to Firefox - and now this ... I don't know what to say ...

My assumption is that you might be in a state of exhaustion which would not be surprising at all considering the tremendous work you've done in the months back. (Quite frankly, I often wondered if you ever found enough time to sleep.) Health is above anything else! May I suggest that you take a break, relax and ... perhaps sometime, if your mood and/or your health permits, you might reconsider your decision?

Whatever you do: I wish you all the very best!

[gorhill]

"Each page's frame incurs a 200-1500ms delay before rendering/scripting begins" (Chrome Web Store)

"broken implementation" (ABP developer on Bugzilla)

That doesn't seem much but these two statements got to me.

I've worked a lot to make this extension as efficient as possible (though it's a never ending task really). Efficiency is not a bells & whistles feature. But it requires a lot of work, I can't emphasize that enough. Optimizing is one of my favorite part when it comes to code. Coding is fun. Fighting BS is tiresome, I don't have the energy for this a this point.

The last drop was the 1-star review on the Chrome Web Store combined with the reported number of users going down. I myself wouldn't even bother installing the extension reading that kind of comment.

But the nonsense from ABP developer that was left unchallenged by Moz devs is where I started to question if it was worth it to put in all these efforts toward efficiency if in the end it makes no difference. It didn't make any difference to the devs who should have been most interested, let alone users.

To put in all that work to have it all so easily undermined like this, it's just not worth it.

[Landpaddle]

Raymond,

I understand your frustration. For all the effort you've put in to this extension, and for the efficiency of the code itself, being subject to dismissive comments must be a dagger to the heart.

Though, I personally believe you've created a great thing, and that you shouldn't throw in the towel based on negative, baseless criticism. For one, ABP is a competing extension. It's in their best interest to take down competition to keep usage of their own product at a maximum. Secondly, people vote magnificent extensions down all the time. It's part of the nature of a public forum where stupid is as stupid does.

My recommendation is to reconsider maintaining this project. You've enabled people the luxury of defining their own web experience, without incurring a heavy loss of performance, and while keeping the extension highly user friendly. No other developer has been as thorough, attentive, and good-spirited as you've been throughout the duration of this project.

So please, Raymond. I ask that you continue to support this project - ignoring baseless criticisms, refusing them objectively, understanding that hate sometimes just happens. If you need support, you've got plenty of folks who do use (and love) the extension, plus regular contributors on Github to assist.in future development.

If you truly wish to drop it, I won't complain. But I urge you to reconsider.

[cet1]

Thank you for the best extension for Chrome.This is the only extension I have been using for a while.People who do not understand how to use it and who do not try to learn it are unfortunately rating it low.Please reconsider maintaining this useful project.Take Care..

[ghost]

/"Each page's frame incurs a 200-1500ms delay before rendering/scripting begins"/ (Chrome Web Store https://github.com/gorhill/httpswitchboard/wiki/About-%22Spock-Vulcan%22-review-on-Chrome-Web-Store)

/"broken implementation"/ (ABP developer on Bugzilla https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=988266#c39)

That doesn't seem much but these two statements got to me.

Like @Landpaddle I understand your frustration. But you shouldn't take those comments too personal. Try to slip into Palant's shoes: He's been working on ABP for I-don't-know-how-many years - and all of a sudden someone comes along, takes a short look at the code and finds a much more efficient alternative. How embarrassing for Palant! His comment is therefore not really surprising. And it's not really surprising, either, that the Moz devs didn't side with you considering that Palant is a long-time developer for Firefox.

And those negative comments on the Web Store are from people who simply don't know what they are doing. Don't take them serious. We as your convinced users appreciate a lot what you're doing - that's what really counts ;-)

What's probably necessary for unexperienced newbies is a more streamlined step-by-step documentation. You've already done a great job here with the "Start from scratch" button and the "must-read" articles in the wiki but it's probably still too complex for absolute newbies to understand all the possibilities and options offered by HTTPSB.

Raymond, please don't give up!

[ghost]

Personally, I would have just ignored that particular review. When you know the guy is obviously trolling, you ignore them. You are always going to stumble upon these heart hurting reviews because it is the nature of the Internet.

About the user number, unfortunately it's happen. The drop might be linked to the fact that the extension was at some point not user friendly at all. You did great thing to improve that lately.

I removed Adblock from all my computers (home and work) since I discovered your extension. I would be very sad to see it abandoned so soon.

Please reconsider your choice of abandoning the extension.

[httpsbfan]

Hello HTTPSB Developer(s),

As a longtime firefox+ABP/NoScript/Ghostery/RequestPolicy, I was really excited to discover this extension a few weeks ago. Not only does it promise to clean up the morass of overlapping block/unblock rules, but apparently it will also improve performance! I am sure I am not the only privacy-concious user who has been frustrated by the dazzling array of extensions necessary to browse the internet in a semi-sane fashion. The HTTPSB concept promises to clean all this up and provide ONE PLACE to adjust what is allowed to run in my browser. I believe this to be a gamechanging feature in todays ad-ridden, javascript infested web.

Since I'm not a Chrome/Chromium user, I have not yet given this extension a shot. However, as I mentioned above, even if it never comes to firefox, I think this project is well worth supporting. I cannot comment on performance or usability, but I can say that after extensive research, it is the only project of its kind and it would be a travesty to see it die. What I will say is, regardless of the truth or falsehood of the comments you linked above, don't take them to heart; you are the only one on the right track and the community is very much behind you.

Sincerely,

A fan.

[ohrly]

I like HTTPSB a LOT! Thanks again for your hard work!

[xdmx]

I've used HTTPSB only few times (I'm a Firefox user), and I've found it to be the best addon I ever tried, without noticing any kind of slowness. Please continue to work on it (and port it to Firefox), ignore those reviews, there are always users that aren't happy (or just trolling). Think about all those users you're helping and those that love your product. The choice is yours and in both ways, thank you so much for your work!

[ghost]

I've started to use Chrome again only because of HTTP Switchboard, and I'm really disappointed that development is halting already. Please don't let a couple bad reviews get to you. Those people's opinions shouldn't carry more weight than the 70+ five-star reviews. It's a great extension, I'm not surprised the ABP developer is threatened by it.

[tailHey]

Hello everyone!

Sorry guys, I'll write to @gorhill in French!

@gorhill, je comprends ta frustration, moi-même je suis dégoûté de ce que Spock Vulcan et Wladimir Palant t'ont dit. Mais franchement, ton extension est la meilleure que j'ai jamais eue dans un navigateur, et d'apprendre que tu comptes arrêter à cause de ça m'a limite sapé le moral... Je suis pas la première personne à te le dire, mais je t'implore de bien vouloir reconsidérer cela, car si tu n'as pas plu à une personne qui ne sait pas ce qu'elle dit et un développeur ne reconnaissant pas la médiocrité de son travail en comparaison de TON boulot, ton HTTP Switchboard a plu, et plus que tu ne le crois. Je ne serais pas étonné si ton extension ne faisait déjà pas des jaloux ! S'il te plait, ne laisse pas tomber le projet, maintiens-le, et rends-le bien meilleur que tous ces détracteurs et leur affligeante pauvreté intellectuelle.

Don't give up, please!

[sudokai]

Please reconsider your decision. They are a lot of us who support you. We're not as vocal as the trolls because when everything works as intended, there's simply no need to complain.

Personally, your extension was one of the highlights and advantages of using Chrome for me. I'm a fan of this extension and I'm really impressed with your work.

[PassinThrough2]

Thanks so much for your excellent work Raymond! Your talent and dedication gave us much-needed peace of mind and a sense of control while browsing. I sincerely wish you the very best of luck in your future endeavors!

[ghost]

I would not be the only one to say this but please do not discontinue this project. Sure someone else may be able to take up the project but no one else would be able to do it as properly as you could @gorhill. I would say that Moz devs are probably not happy that this isn't available on FF platform. And also Adblock or ABP would definitely HTTPSB a competitor to their project. So the attitude may be sour but you have made my personal web experience quantifiably better.

Thank you -AGPino

[littleboy62]

Bonjour / Bonsoir. ;) (Hello everybody)

First, I'm sorry... I'll write this message in French, like TailHey... It's the guy who made me discover the extension...

Comme TailHey, je comprends ta frustration. => Je code en amateur, j'aide parfois sur les forums... et on m'a déjà parlé comme de la mrd...

Donc je peux aisément comprendre que tu veuilles tout arrêter... Mais d'un côté, c'est donner victoire à tes détracteurs qui crachent sur le dos de ton excellent boulot.

En effet, j'utilisais Firefox avant d'utiliser Opera. => Firefox prend déjà pas mal de processeur et de mémoire (RAM) => Avec Adblock Plus, cela s'est aggravé. j'ai un petit processeur, donc... freeze total de Firefox.

Un ami, celui que j'ai cité plus haut, m'a dit de tester Opera. => Conclusion : Plus stable, plus sécurisé, plus rapide.

Il m'a ensuite guidé sur l'extension HTTP Switchboard, et me l'a configuré. => Résultat : aucun lag ! Et TOUTES les pubs ne sont plus affichées => Avec l'opacité, c'est claire, nette, et sans fioriture (clin d'oeil à Pierre ^^) => On peut sauvegarder les réglages => On n'est pas obligé de souscrire à telle ou telle liste...

Plus simple, plus efficace : et oui, ça attise la jalousie. Et du coup, les mauvaises langues se délient...

Quoiqu'il en soit, répondre à cela, c'est leur donner raison : chose qui ne faut jamais faire.

En clair, l'extension m'a permis indirectement à changer de navigateur, et donc, la paix pour mon petit processeur ^^

En effet, l'extension ADBP (sur IE) : c'est une vraie catastrophe... Sur FF, comme je l'ai dis plus haut, fais bosser le processeur et la mémoire RAM.

Si on regarde bien sur Google, ADBP a mauvaise réputation parfois...

Et comme l'a si bien dit TailHey : Si un individu n'a pas aimé http switchboard, il y en a d'autres qui l'utilisent...

Faut pas s'arrêter à ça...

Je code pour des amis, et pour moi-même (info : je code en autoiIT)... J'ai eu le "malheur" de coder un petit rikiki script qui permettait de transformer le rapport de malwarebytes dans un format lisible (car là, c'est du XML, difficile de l'analyser ^^)

On a d'abord critiqué, en me disant que ça servait à rien, alors que ça commence à être utilisé. => Je me suis pas laissé faire ^^

On m'a pris ma défense, en disant que l'idée avait germé de plusieurs membres, et que j'aime coder pour moi et pour les autres...

Le type a répondu : « s'il code pour le FUN, ok » => pour le FUN, ben voyons !

Parce que je fais un outil lié à malwarebyte, il se doit de me "casser" => Je lui ai juste répondu que j'avais passé l'âge pour le fun ^^

En gros :

• Il ne faut pas tenir compte des mauvaises langues, et continuer à avancer. Si je l'avais écouté, je n'aurais pas appris de nouvelles choses.

En conclusion d'un utilisateur ravi : HTTPSB est bien plus supérieur qu'à ADBP (en tout cas, sur mes PCs)

@+ et j'espère que le projet continuera :+1:

[gorhill]

Just to be clear it's not negative comments which bothered me (I have no problem with these, I use them as a way to know where improvements are needed).

It's the untruthful statements. The tediousness comes from having to spend time trying to counter these. Not my idea of fun.

[tailHey]

@gorhill, ce serait effectivement improductif de parler à ces imbéciles, tu, moi, les autres, NOUS TOUS SAVONS ce que ton extension/ton travail vaut, à savoir bien plus que les leurs. Abandonner le projet pour ne plus avoir à rétablir la vérité face à des diffamants, c'est pas les taire, c'est empêcher ceux qui ont eu l'intelligence d'essayer puis d'approuver ton extension de profiter de tes formidables efforts. On est déjà plus d'une dizaine à te faire savoir à quel point il serait dommage de tout arrêter tant HTTPSB est excellent, on aurait donc moins de crédit que ceux qui diffament ? Je réitère ma demande, ne lache pas ton chef d'œuvre, please :(

[littleboy62]

Je comprends que tu préfères avoir des critiques constructifs que des propos mensongers, que tu dois donc démentir...

C'est ça que j'ai appelé "mauvaises langues" : mentir sur un produit pour le discréditer...

Mais une question me taraude : Est-ce que nos avis seraient de qualité moindre face aux mensonges ?

D'ailleurs, même si je préfère de loin HTTPSB, je n'ai pas que des évaluations positifs à cette extension.

Je le trouve parfois complexe d'utilisation. ^^ Mais au moins, tu nous écoutes, et tu règles cela en apportant des nouveautés qui comblent les imperfections.

Dans ce cas, pourquoi ne pas continuer à nous écouter, quand on te dit que HTTPSB est un excellent projet, et qu'il serait regrettage qu'il tombe à l'eau, à cause des avis mensongers ?

Les nôtres ont moins d'impact alors ?

J'aimerais bien que le projet continue... Mais sinon... je ne mettrais pas(ou plus) ADBP...

Tant pis, j'aurais les pubs...

++

[jankkm]

Thanks a lot for all your hard work. Even if HTTPSB stays as it is we have a great extension that helps us a lot everyday. I too really do understand your frustration about those comments but I think you shouldn't let those people stop you from creating this really usefull software. Maybe it's even people from ABP who don't like your project because it threatens their software which actually makes a lot of money!

I would really appreciate if you considered continuing your work. Thanks!

And if you need money: let us donate!

[gorhill]

I will keep working on it.

I am also thinking how to spin-off the net filtering stuff as a standalone library, so that other devs could use it to create their own blocker extensions, for whatever browser -- the more choice the better.

[tailHey]

@gorhill : Thank you SO MUCH, thank you for not giving up, listening to us and going on making HTTPSB greater than any other addon!

[ghost]

I will keep working on it.

I am also thinking how to spin-off the net filtering stuff as a standalone library, so that other devs could use it to create their own blocker extensions, for whatever browser -- the more choice the better.

Wow - great news!!! I'm sure that all HTTPSB users will be more than happy!

Thanks a lot, Raymond!

[jankkm]

Awesome! Thank you!

[jonvuri]

https://www.youtube.com/embed/GjjZGyYcH9E

[cet1]

Thank you ,great news.

[gorhill]

Ok, let me close this. Looks like I needed to be reminded many people relies on this project to get much needed protection from privacy-invading bloat. There are other good solutions out there -- I do consider Adblock Plus to be one of the preferred solution, along with Ghostery given the benchmark results so far -- but to keep things in check, there is definitely a need for user-driven solutions (i.e. not tainted directly or indirectly by corporate agendas).

[tjharman]

Thanks gorhill. If I can help at all with documentation or anything else, let me know. I am happy to assist where I can.

[gorhill]

@tjharman Thanks for the offer. Best is just you do whatever you think needs to be done, I just like to keep everything informal, not settings goals for others, etc.

[gavin20]

Hi gorhill,

Just wanted to say your extension is the best and thank you for all you've done for the community. I would like to recommend your extension to the EFF, not sure how you'd feel about that? Also, I've been trying to find a link to where I could donate, to show my appreciation. If you're willing to accept donations, please let me know. Thanks again!

[ghost]

EFF

From a previous issue.

Donations

From the uBlock wiki.