koan - 8:51 pm on May 5, 2009 (gmt 0)

The main thing I don't understand about this is why the Adblock Plus guy wanted to single out Maone in the first place

I'm not sure either but that's what makes the story juicy in a way. Add-ons used to block ads are trying to monetize themselves ... with ads.

As for the approval process, the editors are volunteers by the way, and it can take many, many months before an add-on is out of the "experimental" sandbox.