New Firefox extension for spamgourmet - feedback wanted

General discussion re sg.

Is Spam Control a useful extension?

Yes, I like it
1
14%
Yes, but it needs more functionality
2
29%
Yes, perhaps a bit
2
29%
No, I don't use Firefox
2
29%
No, I don't like how it works/looks
0
No votes
No, go away
0
No votes
 
Total votes : 7

New Firefox extension for spamgourmet - feedback wanted

Postby amertner » Mon Jul 07, 2008 8:22 pm

I have been using spamgourmet for years, but I don't need it often enough and therefore have found myself unable to remember how to use it when I do need it, and therefore didn't use it. To my shame and regret, of course :)

This finally became enough of an annoyance that I wanted to do something about it, and as a result I have created a small Firefox extension called Spam Control that allows me to easily use any of a number of different email addresses, including automatically crafted spamgourmet ones, without having to remember anything at all.

I'd really like to get some feedback in addition to what I can get on Mozilla's extension site, and I thought this would be a good place to ask... So if you use Firefox 2 or later, I'd love to hear whether it works for you, what you find good, bad or annoying, and what more/less it should do to be really useful. There are a lot of things it could do, but it would be nice to get some more eyes on it before I go over the top on adding more features...

Download: The official download site is here - please review it there if you like the extension. If you don't, or have any comments, please leave a message here and I'll be happy to discuss how to make it better!
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How can I verify that this addon is not malicious code?

Postby fred » Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:31 am

This sounds interesting and I would really like to try this addon, but I'm concerned about safety. I'm new to Firefox and addons, but I understand that Firefox addons can execute malicious code at will. Is there a way to determine if an addon is safe before installing it? I have attempted to find on the Mozilla web site if the addons have been checked out, but can't find any info on this.
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Re: How can I verify that this addon is not malicious code?

Postby amertner » Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:29 am

fred wrote:This sounds interesting and I would really like to try this addon, but I'm concerned about safety. I'm new to Firefox and addons, but I understand that Firefox addons can execute malicious code at will. Is there a way to determine if an addon is safe before installing it? I have attempted to find on the Mozilla web site if the addons have been checked out, but can't find any info on this.


It may indeed be possible for an addon to execute "malicious code", although the scope for maliciousness is limited by the fact that it is restricted to running Javascript in the browser itself. It's not like an ActiveX control in IE, for example, which has full access to everything on your machine, including native APIs.

Also, the source code for most add-ons (certainly mine) is available to look at for anyone who is interested. You can even see it on the AMO site without installing the add-on.

Finally, add-ons are reviewed by AMO; whenever I make a new version, it normally takes a couple of weeks before it becomes available for download. I don't know what they actually do (perhaps they just check that it doesn't break anything?) but some level of review is involved.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you do install Spam Control and whether you find it useful :)

Thanks
amertner
 
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Location: London, UK

Postby mysticturner » Tue Jul 29, 2008 12:35 pm

I've been using Firefox for about 3 or 4 years. SG for longer than that. I don't see a lot of value in your add-on as far as SG addressing is concerned. For myself, I can type up new SG addresses as fast as my fingers move. I have a naming schema that allows me to know what is going on and typing it up. I don't have to think about it anymore. It is similar to your SG example in that it uses the company name to generate the address. There may be value in the other two options - tempinbox, tempforward - but since I've never used those, I can't comment on how much assistance would help in those situations.

What I do think would be of value is a add-on to Thunderbird that helps in sending email. I've posted about it here looking for someone who has written one, but so far no response (last time I checked). I'd write one myself but to be honest, I need to learn a bit more about more modern programming techniques. I'm a mainframe programmer and so my knowledge in the terminology being used to describe extensions is near zero. I'm sure I could do it with a bit of help and time. Time.. Always Time... My kingdom for time....

PS
I voted 'Yes maybe a little'

PSS
Here's the thread wherein I posted some specs for a Thunderbird client - more detailed than my description above.
http://bbs.spamgourmet.com/viewtopic.php?t=1127
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Postby josh » Tue Jul 29, 2008 7:30 pm

looks cool - I installed it, but haven't had a chance to use it too much yet.
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Postby luckman212 » Fri Jan 23, 2009 6:49 pm

great idea!

problems:

1) need to be able to add/edit/remove domains (xoxy.net, etc)
2) since i dont use any other service besides spamgourmet, I would love a slimmed-down version of the plugin that ONLY does spamgourmet functions, and strips out all that other stuff
3) move menu out from submenu (less clicks!) and just make it sit right on the main context menu
4) would be great if user could choose at time of creation, the number of mails to let through.... instead of a single, global number in prefs

thats it for now!! hope you still might work on this plugin some more!! I think if it moved out of the "experimental" section on firefox site, it would get a lot more publicity!
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Postby ronbarak » Tue Apr 07, 2009 9:04 am

One "enhancement" I'd like to see is the ability to have nothing in the "Lifespan of each email address" field, so that instead of having the address come as blogger.20.comverse@9ox.net it would be blogger.comverse@9ox.net (the default number would then be taken from the spamgourmet account).
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Re: New Firefox extension for spamgourmet - feedback wanted

Postby gourmet » Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:40 am

I'm not going to install any random plugin. But I would love to get screenshots... So I know if it's proper and worth of installing.

- Thank you!
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SeaMonkey compatible?

Postby thePilgrim » Thu May 28, 2009 1:04 am

Is this SeaMonkey compatible? (SeaMonkey is the continuation of the Mozilla project that Firefox is a branch off of.)
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Re: SeaMonkey compatible?

Postby gourmet » Thu May 28, 2009 3:26 am

As reference and getting some ideas, check this one out.

https://addons.mozilla.org/fi/firefox/addon/1813

It's quite nice.
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Update for FFox 3.5?

Postby hircus » Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:42 am

The add-on has not been updated for a while -- I'd love to give it a spin, but would rather not have to turn off compatibility check.
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