
Show HN: Newsit 1.0 – Find Discussions (Chrome and Firefox Extension) - gitgud
https://newsit.benwinding.com/
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4684499
A few days back when I saw the extension, I was glad to see someone made it,
but I was concerned with your privacy policy. However the code of the
extension at the time was quite simple, after a quick scan, I didn't find
anything I need to concern with. There's no third parties (not even Google,)
no malicious behaviors, so I didn't bring the privacy issue up.

Now I just found out the extension has updated, and the size of the extension
increased to over 1MB comparing to the last version with only a few dozens of
KBs... I had a poorly implemented userscript with similar features written by
myself, I think I'll just go back to mine.

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gitgud
Thanks, appreciate the honest feedback.

What specifically are your concerns with the privacy policy? I'm still
learning and happy to change any of it.

The initial version used vanilla JavaScript not minified or transpiled.
However I wanted to include some libraries; bulma, axios, vuejs. Chrome won't
let you load 3rd party scripts into an extension easily.

So, the extension code is bundled using webpack. This unfortunately obfuscates
it, but is much easier for development and deployment. Also made it easier to
deploy to Firefox too.

The increase in size is due to the 3rd party libraries and images, though some
are not required anymore.

The next release should be much smaller, I just wanted to improve the menu
styling.

~~~
4684499
Thanks for your reply.

Some lines in your privacy policy:

    
    
        > The app does use third party services that may collect information used to identify you.
    
        > in a case of an error in the app I collect data and information (through third party products) on your phone called Log Data.
    
        > I want to inform users of this Service that these third parties have access to your Personal Information. The reason is to perform the tasks assigned to them on our behalf. However, they are obligated not to disclose or use the information for any other purpose.
    

And I'm aware the content is generated, because the "data and information on
your phone" doesn't really make sense considering what you are providing is a
browser extension, so I didn't think you really mean all of those.

IMO, correct me if I'm wrong, the main logic of finding related discussions is
as simple as performing searches, locally. Such service doesn't really need to
involve third parties to collect user data. Maybe some libraries are needed to
improve usability and user experience, but that's it. I just hope people could
create something they themselves would like to use, so if you personally are
OK with third parties collecting your data (even that's not essential to the
service), then I think it's OK for you to keep your privacy policy the way it
is now.

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m3tr0s
I saw it there a few days ago, great idea. Like the visual explanation on the
new landing page also. Time to send in to Product Hunt!

~~~
gitgud
Thanks! Great idea, will try and put it up soon!

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gitgud
Hey Everyone,

Newsit is a little browser extension I created to help you find the Reddit or
Hacker News discussion based on the webpage you're currently on.

The Chrome Extension was posted a few days ago, but now it's ported to Firefox
too!

Check it out, and let me know if you have any feedback.

Cheers

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amanzi
Nice. I installed the Firefox extension, switched to some open tabs, and it
worked. Very useful.

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allenleein
I have been waiting this application for a while. Thanks for doing this! Love
it :)

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zufallsheld
How does it work? Does it send the URLs I visit to some server of yours?

~~~
gitgud
Good question, I don't use any custom api servers for this. It queries the
hacker news and reddit public api's directly from your browser, no other
servers are contacted or information stored.

It uses ajax to check if a post exists on one of these sites. If it does, then
it finds the number of comments and link to the post. Have a try and Let me
know what you think! Cheers

