Two years, seventeen days, three hours and five minutes
It has been two years, seventeen days, three hours and five minutes since I became involved with EasyList by creating an account on the EasyList forums. When I joined, I did not expect that I would ever rise to my present position of lead EasyList and Privacy author, forum administrator and all the other roles that I have accumulated in my EasyBlog profile.
It was chance that lead to my first major breakthrough: only three months after I had joined the forum, I was granted contributor status and thereby discovered, via a topic in the private forum, that Ares2 was officially struggling to maintain the subscriptions (my 500 posts over my first three months on the forum had nothing to do with this). Wladimir was, at the time, reorganising the Adblock Plus repositories anyway and offered a Mercurial repository to Ares2, which was eventually accepted. The question then arose who would assist Ares2, which I replied to with the following post:
"I would be willing to help, although I appreciate that I am somewhat of a novice in comparison to the other members of the private forum."
–Michael
Despite my acknowledgment of my limited involvement with EasyList, my application was accepted, along with Erunno's, and by early December I was actively committing changes.
Becoming the lead author was also a matter of being in the right place at the right time. By the end of April I was effectively the only active EasyList author, to the extent that I complained, via private message to Erunno and Ares2, that:
"I signed up for a group project, not a one man band."
–Michael
Although I received assistance from Erunno, Ares2 found himself unable to continue to run EasyList and in June he therefore offered me the position of lead author, which I readily accepted. It was also acknowledged that we need more help, and three people were offered authorship at the time: MonztA, Khrin and Famlam, of whom MonztA and Khrin immediately accepted and soon took on their new positions.
After the peculiar circumstances that lead me to my position, I decided to develop EasyList further, redesigning the website, which had not been significantly altered since Rick was the EasyList author, and adding this blog. I added groups to the forum to more clearly identify significant people, such as contributors, subscription authors and EasyList authors, and added the private "EasyList Authors' Forum" to reduce the excessive use of private messages by authors. I have also been one of two authors of SubscriptionList and helped to develop the Adblock Plus documentation and check the English localisation of Adblock Plus - I am responsible for the description of Adblock Plus on the Mozilla Add-ons domain. More recently, Famlam has taken up my offer to become an author and I have developed FOP (Filter Orderer and Preener), which automatically sorts and commits changes to Adblock Plus subscriptions.
That is not to say that I have no regrets about my time with the project - I have certainly made some significant mistakes, including committing a rule that would have broken a very large number of websites had the filter not been spotted quickly and being overly antagonistic to an important company - but that I am generally proud of my involvement with EasyList.
Perhaps the most significant change to the EasyList project while I have been the lead author is to make the subscriptions available as Tracking Protection Lists (TPLs) for Microsoft's Internet Explorer using a script I developed, but which was later significantly improved by Wladimir; EasyPrivacy TPL now accounts for just over half of all EasyPrivacy downloads.
Those are my memories of EasyList - my reminisces. But I now need to move to the present and to reality. Over my two years with the project I have been successful in real life, but have realised that the resulting changes will reduce my level of my involvement for the foreseeable future to such a low standard as to do a disservice to the community. EasyList needs stability - there has been approximately one lead author a year since Rick's unfortunate death in 2009 - and I am unable to provide it. As I hinted in a hidden message in a recent blog post, I am therefore stepping down from all of my roles associated with EasyList and Adblock Plus.
MonztA has kindly agreed to take over the role of lead EasyList and EasyPrivacy author (he is already the lead EasyList Germany author), effective immediately. He has been writing subscriptions for at least twice as long as I've even been involved with EasyList and I know that he already has plans to continue to develop the project. I wish him and the community the best of luck and thank the numerous people (too many to list here) who have supported me as an author. But now I must leave. After two years, seventeen days, three hours and five minutes.
Sorry to hear that you are leaving us as leader. I hope you are still going to be around to help in transaction and of course making some filters still?? Question mark meaning, that's a question. ;) I know MonztA will do a great job. Been around helping a long time just like you said. I wish all the best for the future of Easylist and ABP and I'm sure MonztA will do great! Let me know if there is anything I can do MonztA even if I am limited, as you know, in many ways. Wishing all of us luck and growth in the future. Thanks for all that you have done Michael! You've been one heck of a good leader!!
Comment by IceDogg — Sep 10, 2011 1:13:27 PM | # - re
Thanks Michael, I don't know how to describe my gratitude so I just say,thanks. Please keep going!
Comment by wtz — Sep 10, 2011 1:47:59 PM | # - re
Thank you very much for all you've done so far, Michael. You are a true leader and without people as you, our worl would be a hell. Thanks to your efforts -the codes you wrote and your organizing skills- we surf the Web "cleanly". Thank you very much, our beloved friend!
Comment by Deniz Ogut — Sep 22, 2011 6:40:45 AM | # - re
For making surfing the web a joy, words cannot express my gratitude enough Michael... thankyou, thankyou so much.
Comment by YoJembo — Oct 13, 2011 12:26:48 AM | # - re
You were and you are a great defender of our privacy rights!
You leave and even the ABP has been sold to ad company, sad days...
Comment by EuroScept1C — Dec 2, 2011 9:10:38 PM | # - re
As a coder, I've always appreciated concision, so I'll be concise here also. If ever I run into you at a bar, I'll pay for all your drinks.
Comment by dead — Dec 14, 2011 12:32:29 AM | # - re
Well, Michael, you have lived and died without my ever having been aware of your existence. Good luck IRL. One obvious thing missing in my 17 minutes of my being aware of Easy List is: WTF EasyList IS. A 'this is' and 'do this'. It seems to be a companion to AdBlock Plus for IE9 (...?) but there's precious little information that I can see on what to do with it. I've long advocated that the SECOND word on every website should be 'is'. '[this product] is.....'. And provide a description, then go on to saying how to use it, and how to undo it, just in case (when beginning to ride a motor bike the first thing you learn is how to stop). Programmers everywhere are such a nerd species... ;-| TPL, ELs, ABP, Abin, Privcho, Trte, sheeesh. You can't sell a secret, chaps. Anyone, please..?
Comment by Phred E — Jan 5, 2012 4:35:20 PM | # - re
i may not be active in the community. i have never participated previously and probably never will again. i'm just a user who, as one of the unseen masses, wanted to say thankyou for all youve done.
Comment by Kami — Jan 6, 2012 1:42:51 AM | # - re
Thank you for everything you have done.
Comment by <a href="http://www.vanguardprintingllc.com/">Magazine Printer</a> — Feb 13, 2012 3:43:15 PM | # - re
I am plesed to have the opportunity to enjoy Ease List.
Comment by Gilberto Sánchez Orti — Feb 26, 2012 2:59:45 AM | # - re
Thanks for this great service and product!
God bless you man!
J
Comment by john — Mar 6, 2012 11:48:04 PM | # - re
congratulations, we're happy for your success, and jealous too. Such an inspiration.
Comment by eli — Mar 10, 2012 4:52:05 AM | # - re
telia
Comment by Alex_nielsen — Mar 17, 2012 8:11:45 PM | # - re
I have to thank each and everyone who has contributed to making this list what it is today. All your efforts have tuned the web to how many users prefer, instead of how some would force upon us. Thankyou.
Comment by Deus Tempestas — Mar 20, 2012 9:29:56 AM | # - re
Is there a cost for this service? Other than the $5 donation, that is?
Comment by PamG — Mar 24, 2012 6:24:19 PM | # - re
Donation? You cannot donate to the Easy project (the subscription). It is completely free. You probably meant the donation for the extension itself.
Comment by MonztA — Mar 24, 2012 6:50:44 PM | # - re
Hi friends. Really admire the work of this team and we believe will reap the fruit of the tree either built, under construction. We see here a large field of use, and enhances performance against undesirable content, thus helping to filter content is not blocked by antivirus programs. We understand that the AdBlockPlus before a competitor against addo NoScript, but a complementing the other. I will like a lot of media users donations. However, we are currently unable to provide this support as needed. It happens that you really have. For this reason I request that The AdBlockPlus team understands us. But we will disclose the addon in our 15,000 web pages, and that even now, after five years, we are still deficient. We see, however, that there is "A light at the end of Tunne" and soon will recover our investment and thousands of days of toil, perhaps 2013 will be a surplus and make the appropriate donations, especially the AdBlockPlus, NoScript and Lazarus, which have the best and effective and efficient solutions.
Our Warm Greetings, Sincere!
Lustato Tenterrara
www.lustatotenterrara.com
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Oi amigos.
Admiro realmente o trabalho dessa equipe e acreditamos colherão o fruto da árvore ora construída, em construção. Nos vemos daqui um grande campo de utilização, bem como reforça a atuação contra conteúdos indesejáveis, auxiliando dessa forma em filtrar conteúdo não bloqueado pelos programas de antivírus. Entendemos que o adblockplus antes de ser um concorrente contra o addo NoScript, mas um complementando o outro. Gostarei muito dos suportes de usuários, donativos. Porém, atualmente estamos impossibilitados em prestar esse suporte tão necessário. Ocorre que realmente não temos. Mesmo pouco. Por esta razão solicito que The AdBlockPlus Team entenda-nos. Mas iremos divulgar o addon, em nossas 15 mil páginas web, e que até agora, após cinco anos, ainda estamos deficitários. Vemos, porém, que há "Uma luz no fim do Túneo", e breve recuperaremos nosso investimento e milhares de dias em labuta, talvez em 2013 estaremos com superavit e faremos as devidas doações, especialmente o AdBlockPlus, o NoScript e o Lazarus, os quais possuem as melhores iféias e soluções eficazes e eficientes. Nossas Cordiais Saudações, Sinceras!
Comment by Lustato Tenterrara — Apr 4, 2012 6:19:44 PM | # - re
Well .. I have noticed that the countrymen are very desaforados language. They do so in anonymity. If it were here in Brazil, you could ask the authorities who vasculhasse the web to find these criminals, because here is the free expression of thought, however, since it is not anonymous, and even if it is even signed, and content with injury defamation. We were horrified to read some vile comments. It should be appalling, rather than a support, provide at least one compliment, but be commented with injuries and slanders is very sad. But do not be overcome by such ignoble beings. They are just "internet trolls", sadistic, and on sites that appear to be "against the" anything. It is a disease and is now diagnosed in the medical literature and the ICD-International Classification of Diseases
Greetings
Lustato Tenterrara
================
Bem... Tenho notado que os conterrâneos de idioma são muito desaforados. E o fazem no anonimato. Se fosse aqui no Brasil, você poderia solicitar às Autoridades que vasculhasse a web até encontrar esses criminosos, pois aqui é livre a expressão do pensamento, porém, desde que não seja anônima; e nem que seja, mesmo assinada, de conteúdo com injúria e difamação. Ficamos horrorizados ao ler alguns ignóbeis comentários. Deve ser estarrecedor, ao invés de um suporte, fornecer ao menos um elogio, mas ser comentado com injúrias e difamações é muito triste. Mas não se deixem vencer por tais ignóbeis seres. São apenas "trolls de internet", sádicos, e que aparecem em sites para ser "do contra" qualquer coisa. É uma doença e já está diagnosticada na literatura médica e no CID- Código Internacional de Doenças
Saudações
Lustato Tenterrara
Comment by Lustato Tenterrara — Apr 4, 2012 6:39:36 PM | # - re