Yessir!
I’ll be much more likely to post here, now that I have at least some sort of “names to the faces” system in place.
nm.
Am I the only one Chrome is forcing to disable extensions that aren’t from their store (such as the avatar extension)?
In the version of Chrome that I have (Version 35.0.1916.114 m) the avatar script is enabled and working fine. It required manual installation as discussed in the posts above, but once installed it hasn’t been disabled by Google.
I did some searching however and found this thread on Google forums where many people were complaining bitterly that Google had plans to disable any extensions that don’t come from the Google app store.
And in this more recent announcement Google indicated that they are now preparing to roll out that policy despite all the bitter complaints.
To summarize the problem they are allegedly trying to solve, it appears that Google detected a large number of Chrome users on Windows being hijacked by malicious extensions they didn’t purposely install. To protect users from this they instituted the policy that extensions had to come from the app store or be installed manually, so the user was required to opt-in by OK’ing a dialog box. This is what lead to the avatar script having to be installed manually on Chrome.
That solution didn’t work though, because apparently hackers started writing Chrome preference files out from under the users in such a way that Chrome believed the user had opted-in by OK’ing a dialog that they hadn’t actually OK’ed.
So their latest ill-conceived effort to combat this problem is to simply reach into your computer and disable extensions that didn’t come from the Google app store whether you want them to or not. This has obviously infuriated a lot of Chrome users and extension developers, but listening to their customers and developers hasn’t ever been one of Google’s strong points. As far as I can tell they intend to continue this policy.
Why everything is still working fine for me in Chrome I have no idea, but for those affected by this policy Google suggests using the developer version, or ‘Canary’ Chrome Canary Features For Developers - Google Chrome version of Chrome, which doesn’t have this limitation.
That is my current recommendation for Chrome users on Windows who want to use the avatar script (the Mac and Linux versions of Chrome are unaffected)
I will look into the idea of surrendering to Google and putting the script on the Google app store which is obviously their real goal in all of this, but it sounds like a hassle to do (need to create documentation, and graphics and icons, etc) and as a matter of principle I am inclined to resist any such coercive tactics even if it were easy to do. So, the answer may wind up being that Chrome users affected by this problem either need to use the Canary version of Chrome or migrate to Firefox.
Sometimes, Google really irks my tater. Is there another browser we can use the avatar extension with?
This is problem I was posting about in #202. I’ve gone to Firefox. I must admit, though, I haven’t actually got around to installing the extension for Firefox yet.
Yeah, Chrome has started to become a pain in the ass lately. I’ve loved it these few years it’s been out but it seems like during the last couple of months there’s been a build up of little issues. Flash randomly crashing at sites like Newgrounds, the video players over at RedLetterMedia not always working, intermittent problems with Youtube, now this. Looks like I might be going back to Firefox permanently.
Regardless of what you choose to do or not do, I know I appreciate the time and effort you and spinky have spent making and managing and troubleshooting the script for us. Thanks for that.
Yeah, same here.
Yeah, good luck, Crazyhorse. Chrome is being ridiculous. 
I just downloaded Firefox, and it’s telling me the script is corrupted?
I can’t get it to work with Firefox, either. Fate just doesn’t want us to see avatars around here.
Last night, Chrome popped off to tell me it disabled this script.
It’s working in Firefox for me (version 29.0.1)
Where’s the FF one?
The same script should work on both Firefox and Chrome.
So the script is working ok these days? At one point, back when the board had that hacker trouble, there were some problems with it due to the fact that the avatar server actually uses my browser cookie to fetch info from profiles. I had changed my password and then forgotten and then I ended up getting my account locked out temporarily due to insistently entering my old password too many times. You know, because I’m so smart. Anyway, I half-thought that was still an issue and that avatars weren’t actually being updated anymore, and I was feeling guilty about not looking into it yet. So if it’s working … great! 
I guess what I’m trying to say is, any “thanks for all the hard work” messages should be addressed mostly to crazyhorse.
Not on Chrome – they’re disabling any extensions that aren’t available through their own store. So unless someone plans to upload it there, you’re SOL. 
And I like Chrome better than Firefox, I’m not going to switch for one website, so I’ll wait until there’s a solution.
Fuck Chrome.
There should be no issue with Firefox/Greasemonkey. One note: be sure to use the new link at SDMB Avatars and not the old one at userscripts.org, which seems to be abandoned at the moment and has gone almost completely belly up.
I just uninstalled the script in Firefox(29.0.1) and reinstalled it from the Greasyfork link, and it is still working fine.
Oddly enough I have no problem using it in Chrome either, but maybe Google just hasn’t caught up to me yet.
For the short term the best solution for those who don’t want to abandon Chrome is to use the Chrome development build linked above. It comes with all the usual disclaimers that it may crash for any reason or no reason at all but in fact it seems about as stable as the release build and may even be advantageous at times since it has the latest bug fixes that haven’t made it into the release build yet.
I already have Grease Monkey for another reason, guess I better figure out how it applies here.