foxyproxy

I think many people will be willing to maintain a list.
We maintain a list for ourself, and now it can be shared to the whole country, why not?
I'd like to maintain a list for people in PRC. China using tor.

You only need to add the ability to foxyproxy, specify the format to the maintainer, and lead user to the subscriber page.
I don't think you need to worry about how they maintain a list.
If someone is not satisfied with the list existed, he can apply his own.
If a maintainer feel it's hard to continue alone, he can build a team, using a version control tool, like Subversion.

I think it will be great if applicable to multiple proxies.
Since there are different features and requirements.

for example, I'd like to tor some sites by socks.
But for some else, I have to use http proxy,
Because it's domain name can't be analysed by default DNS server there.

Thank you.

Hi, ericjung,

I wanna know, what's the development progress of this feature?

I have checked the repository of foxyproxy on mozdev. It seems the code of foxyproxy is not host there.
Also, I found nothing from Google code and Sourceforge.
Is there a maillist for devel announcement?

I don't know what your plan, but I think it will be great if users can custom the server info of list he/she subscribed.
Because almost all the people of a country can share a same blocked sites list, but not all of them use the same proxy server. The default proxy can set to Tor, since Tor is most commonly used. but many people may like others, then he/she can custom it but leave the sites list as default update automatically.

Regards,

Hi, ericjung,

Sorry for replying so...late.

First of all, congratulations on the releasing of 2.8 version.

However, I don't think it's a good idea to separate the patterns from proxy servers.
In contrast, I think FoxyProxy should support integrating multiple proxies with patterns in one list as well as possible.

These are my reasons:

On the one hand, sites have been blocked in different ways.
for some sites, their domain been blocked, but IP is OK.
for some sites, both domain and IP have been blocked.
for some sites, the domain and default IP been blocked, but some other IP are still OK.
for some sites, their domain name not only been blocked, but also have been added to the list of keywords, any URL contains these keywords will be blocked.
for some sites, though been blocked, there is official proxy available (Google for example). using official proxy usually means fast, convenient, and secure.
...............................

On the other hand, sites have been blocked for different reasons.
for some sites, it's purely a mistake.
for some sites, involved in because of other site (share IP, in a same IP range, etc.).
for some sites, though been blocked, people can surf safely.
for some sites, they are politically sensitive, surf these sites may cause trouble to one's real life.
...............................

Then, how can we suppose all users know all these details well?
I have read too much comments on FoxyProxy. It seems people divided into two opposite sides clearly.
Many people said, "I found FoxyProxy is really awesome! I strongly recommend it to you guys! You will find out how powerful it is after a try!".
While, more people responded, "I really don't like it, it's too complex, beat me again and again."

It's not strange. For most people, they don't and don't need to know how it works. The subscribe list is available for them. The list may modified frequently, but they have to do nothing. It just works fine immediately after install, always up to date, and no configuration needed.

That's my vision, and I guess you may also love it.
____________________________________________________________

Besides, I have two suggestions:

For the primary, let's take flickr for example.
Flickr is partly blocked here, people can't view images directly like this:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/77/157881589_69e90629ab.jpg
But, "farm1.static.flickr.com" is a canonical name for "farm1.static.flickr.yahoo8.akadns.net". The server IP is 68.142.213.135.
Replace farm1.static.flickr.com with CNAME or IP, will make that image OK:
http://68.142.213.135/77/157881589_69e90629ab.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.yahoo8.akadns.net/77/157881589_69e90629ab.jpg
Then, why should we use ***proxy*** but not just ***replace***?
That's my suggestion, I strongly recommend FoxyProxy this feature. It's not proxy, but does accord with the purpose of FoxyProxy.

The minor suggestion is: Why not append * to every wildcard pattern's beginning and end?
There would be two advantages:
1. It's friendly to people who are not familiar with wildcard.
One may add a pattern like "www.example.com", then it works well.
2. Can save many characters.
You know, almost every pattern have one * at least. Append automatically can be a great saving...
To prohibit this, can write like:
|http://www.example.com/something| OR ^http://www.example.com/something$
Well, it's not so important.
____________________________________________________________

At last, I'd like to give one more suggestion. However, I did no research whether it can be implemented.
Let's talk about this problem:
A site's domain has been blocked, but it's IP is OK. What's the best method to surf it?
Resolving the domain locally I think it is. Just like the "hosts" file did.
If FoxyProxy can handle it, everyone can get benefit from the list he/she subscribed. It's really perfect.
____________________________________________________________

In Sum, a perfect list I think may like this:

+Tor..................................................User defined.
+Subscribed: China-GFW-List.............List for people live in mainland China suffering from the Great FireWall.
+++Common Sites............................You can change the proxy to a faster one.
+++Common Sites, https Needed......These sites require https, your proxy should support https.
+++Common Sites, encryption Needed..Keywords. URL should be encrypted(by local proxy client, Base64, SSL...) before sent.
+++Political Sites...............................WARNING: These sites are forbade by the government. If you changed the default proxy, you should choose one as secure as possible!
+++Google Official Proxy....................Google sites only.
+++Flickr...........................................Replace flickr's domain to it's IP.
+++Analysis of domain name.............Resolving domain locally to escape from censorship.
+Default..............................................................................

Regards

yes, it is coming.