Firefox has a similar annoyance but at least it's not behind a paywall. I wrote a plug-in I intended to be for personal use but I had to register and publish it on their site because it was removed on close. I'm not sure why they want to encourage a bunch of crap in their add-ons store but what infuriates me to no end is that they think they know better than me what I want to allow to run on my machine.
> I'm not sure why they want to encourage a bunch of crap in their add-ons store but what infuriates me to no end is that they think they know better than me what I want to allow to run on my machine.
The issue, as always, are malware installers on Windows.
Many companies (including Google) pay developers on Windows to ship their addons (or even entire browsers) with the installer, and to auto-install them.
This is how Google got their toolbar addon installed everywhere in the past, how Chrome is installed as default browser without the user noticing, how Bing gets their toolbar installed everywhere, and so on.
It's also used by other actors, not quite as evil as Google or MS, to distribute their malware addons and automatically install it in browsers.
By enforcing registration on AMO, Mozilla can easily remove an addon that was distributed this way for all users.
AMO allows for unlisted add-ons that just get auto-scanned for obvious problems and then signed immediately. That's the preferred method for cases like yours.
Alternatively, you could run Nightly (or an unbranded build[1]) and disable add-on signing, although that opens you up to having _any_ unsigned add-on installed, not just your own.
