Ask HN: Distraction Free YouTube Removed from Chrome Webstore

9 points by calkuta 7y ago ↗ HN

A few years ago I created an extension called "DF YouTube (Distraction Free)" to help me to quit wasting so much time on YouTube. It simply uses CSS to hide different parts of YouTube, such as the sidebar, video recommendations, feed, etc. The extension has had up to 180,000 users and has always maintained a high rating, currently 4.5 stars.

Recently I received an email from Google notifying me that the app has been taken down from the Chrome webstore due to "irrelevant, misleading, or excessive keywords in app descriptions, titles, or metadata." Not being able to identify anything that could be triggering this, I resubmitted it unchanged, and it was rejected again, with a warning of a permanent ban.

I have emailed chromewebstore-policy@google.com and cws-developer-support@google.com with requests for a review and explanation but have received no response.

What can I do about this? Does it seem likely that someone at Google took exception to my app, which hinders YouTube's clickbaity functionality?

Meanwhile, I have ported this app to Firefox which I now use as my main browser, so feel free to look it up on that platform :)

7 comments

[ 4.2 ms ] story [ 30.4 ms ] thread

detaro 7y ago ↗

Might be https://developer.chrome.com/webstore/branding#description for the name that's the problem.

calkuta 7y ago ↗

Great lead! That could definitely be the problem.

calkuta 7y ago ↗

Just wanted to let you know the extension is back up on the Chrome Web Store. Thanks again for your help.

IPProtectorate 7y ago ↗

What makes you think you can use “YouTube” in your product name?

You have no association or claim to the YouTube brand.

Learn to name software without “lifting” the IP of a company like Google. Basic branding, copyright, etc.

exgamedev 7y ago ↗

I'm working on a similar plugin!

https://github.com/a13o/disengaged

May I ask if scripts like this require a lot of upkeep to stay on top of site changes? I already noticed YouTube has a lot of different layouts based on platform and browser

calkuta 7y ago ↗

That's a cool project. Do you plan on having custom applications for a bunch of different websites? I can certainly see that becoming logistically complex. Speaking to my experience, since 2015 YouTube (er, sorry, YouTube™) went through one major style revision requiring a re-working of my app, and they have just gone through a minor one, which will require some tweaking.

exgamedev 7y ago ↗

Yeah I'm planning to cover a bunch more sites like twitter, Reddit, imgur, etc. Time waster sites. But I'm def worried about how all these sites are adopting frameworks, cuz it makes the DOM more dynamic. I think the number of sites the plugin can cover will be a function of popularity and contributors.

Thanks for the data, if I estimate 1 breakage per site per year (plan for the worst) that helps me get a picture of what I think I can support myself