Facebook Threatens Greasemonkey Script Writer

from the but-it's-in-the-browser dept

Thu, Mar 25th 2010 8:28am — Mike Masnick

Another day, another abusive bullying attempt. This time, it's Facebook, which is apparently trying to bully the maker of a Greasemonkey script that cleans up your Facebook live feed by removing annoying app notices (such as all the crap your friends are doing in Farmville and Mafia Wars). It sounds quite useful. Originally, the script was called Facebook Purity, and Facebook complained about the trademark issue (a stretch... but perhaps you could see the company's point). So the guy changed the name to Fluff Busting Purity. No trademark issue at all. But Facebook is still complaining. The thing is, this is a Greasemonkey user script -- meaning that everything happens in the user's browser -- which Facebook has no claim over. If you tell your browser to ignore certain things on a website, that should be your choice. This add-on is there to help people who want it, such that it makes Facebook more useful to them. It's too bad that as Facebook gets bigger, we're hearing more and more stories of this kind of bullying activity.

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Filed Under: browser, facebook, fluff busting purity, greasemonkey

116 Comments

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Mike C. (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 8:10am

Pretty cool... Thanks Facebook!!
You know, I never would have known (or installed and used) the script if Facebook hadn't been a bully about it. Thanks to the "Streisand Effect", not only is my news feed cleaner, but I'll be passing this along to ALL my friends and helping them install it too.

Thanks Facebook!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Ima Fish (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 8:39am

You mean there are actually people in the world who don't care what their friends are doing in Farmville and Mafia War?

It must be nice having a life.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
BoWillis, 25 Mar 2010 @ 8:40am

Thanks GreaseMonkey! Oh and you too Facebook.
I have to agree with Mike C. I'm installing it as we speak!
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Rajio, 25 Mar 2010 @ 8:43am

Wow
Wow i'm totally installing this today. Sounds great! (why in the world would the author comply?)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 8:44am

cool. sounds like a nice ap, Ill have to look it up.

Thanks for the sound out Facebook ...........

idiots
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Simon Jones, 25 Mar 2010 @ 8:47am

This functionality exists within Facebook already
Perhaps it's just that I don't have many friends, or many friends that play silly games, but it is incredibly easy to block all updates from a certain app/fan page/person right there in Facebook's own interface.

I suppose this script might make it more of a 1-click solution, but really there are 2 things I find weird here. Firstly, if this many people cared about purified feeds why weren't they already blocking apps updates, and secondly, why does Facebook care about the script if it just repeats it's own functionality?
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 8:56am

Considering that the full Greasemonkey script source is available to...anyone who installs (or even looks at) the script, taking it down won't do a thing. The script will just pop back up, probably with 5 different names, and Facebook will have to cry 5x more.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 8:58am

Re: This functionality exists within Facebook already
"and secondly, why does Facebook care about the script if it just repeats it's own functionality?"

Perhaps facebook will think that this app confuses people into thinking that facebook itself has less function, according to facebook, makes facebook look bad? I'm not saying their ideas are justified (if anything a lawsuit makes Facebook look worse), just trying to put myself in facebooks shoes.

A more likely answer is that facebook hired a bunch of new lawyers who now need to justify themselves and what better way for a lawyer to justify him/her self than to make legal threats and initiate lawsuits.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:03am

Re: Re: This functionality exists within Facebook already
errr...

perhaps facebook thinks ... and, according to facebook, this makes facebook look bad.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:06am

Firstly, if this many people cared about purified feeds why weren't they already blocking apps updates

Because, if you have more than about 5 friends, they can add annoying apps that pollute your news feed faster than you can block them. It's an arms race you can't win.

And thanks for the heads-up. I'll definitely be installing this one tonight.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:07am

I wonder what it would take to make this a full-blown Firefox extension...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
senshikaze (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:17am

this sounds alot like the arguments companies/website make about ad blockers.

Really, facebook, a small subset of your users are going to use this, just back the hell off.
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Call me Al, 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:17am

Thanks Facebook for publicising this script. I'll install it once I get home.

As for the reason why they are doing it I expect its typical behaviour of companies. They want to control precisely how you experience their content much like the TV and movie industries want to restrict what you can do with your own TV... this kind of script challenges that immensely as it takes control away from them.
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Brandon (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:20am

Re: Pretty cool... Thanks Facebook!!
I second that, now I don't have to use the 'block app' button. I can just clean up facebook using greasemonkey! Thanks Facebook!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:20am

key word is "Threatened"...now was the threat to change the name or to remove the script? The latter would be impossible.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:25am

Re:
Yea, when will web companies realize they cannot control how my browser renders there page. They can make suggestions sure, but in the end (thanks to awesome creator of GreaseMonkey) I can change anything.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
dnm, 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:27am

I haven't gotten threats yet.
I am the author of a similar script that is admittedly much smaller (~12k downloads) on userscripts that does the same thing. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that the author of FBP is using it to make money.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Malak (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:27am

I'm installing this AND setting it as my status!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Overcast (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:34am

You know, I never would have known (or installed and used) the script if Facebook hadn't been a bully about it. Thanks to the "Streisand Effect", not only is my news feed cleaner, but I'll be passing this along to ALL my friends and helping them install it too.

Thanks Facebook!

Likewise, I will pass this on to all the people I know on Facebook too :)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
known coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:35am

Hey be nice to facebook
Didn't you see in the previous article that facebook has syphillis. It is tough dealing with that disease cut them some slack.
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Red, 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:38am

I just make it a habit to *hide* app notices like farmville, mafia wars, etc. as they come. I mean one-two clicks I never had to see the app again, pretty easy.

Sure its slightly inconvient to do so, but I think the less I (or average user) have to manage how my browser renders each sites content specifically and just go directly to the problems source to change it (which is possible with the facebook site), seems just more of a simpler solution to me.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:39am

Facebook recently gets rid of the status feed, forces everybody to view the news feed full of spam, removes the ability to filter the news feed, and gets po'ed that someone else provides the capability? I don't know what the Facebook devs are thinking lately with all unfriendly user interface changes they've made.
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DiscGo (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:49am

Re: Pretty cool... Thanks Facebook!!
Agreed! :)
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DiscGo (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:49am

Re: Pretty cool... Thanks Facebook!!
Here is the link for it: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/44459
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ComputerAddict (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:57am

Re: Re:
its not so much of how you experience their "content" as much as it is experiencing their advertising. Not that the scripts are not already out there, but scripts like this could easily remove a lot of other annoying blocks in the margins of the page as well.

Facebook's worried about their bottom line

** This post has absolutely no evidence to support this claim **
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Rick, 25 Mar 2010 @ 10:07am

The script is redundant...
Why someone felt a need to write a script that Facebook to do what you can do already YOURSELF on Facebook is beyond me.

Although it is sad that hardly anyone knows this, but you can mouse over a post for say; Farmville or Mafia Wars and click Hide - then click Hide ALL Mafia Wars or Farmville posts and never see them again from ANY friend.

I do that every time I see a Bejewelled horoscope zoo island type post from anyone and my feed is clean as can be....
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JackSombra (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 10:12am

"It's too bad that as Facebook gets bigger, we're hearing more and more stories of this kind of bullying activity."Par for the course for any growing company really

First the mindless management drones take over (you know the type, more interested in covering their own ass than anything else, unable to make a decision without a 10 committees backing them and 100’s of meetings to “get everyone on board”)

Due to these people being in charge and increasing costs dramatically this then leads to the accountants taking over (aka people with no knowadge of the company’s actual business, but basically acting as the power behind the throne, dictating how the company is run)

And because the accountant really don’t know how to run the business (and all decent managers left long ago) they then hire lots of lawyers to protect the company and the lawyers to justify their cost to the accountants start attacking everybody and viewing everything at a threat to the company

Then a few years later a new, dynamic, energetic forward thinking start up comes along and wipes them out (unless first company buys them up first) and whole process starts over again

Basically the cycle of life, corporate style
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Mike C. (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 10:15am

Re: This functionality exists within Facebook already
While the functionality DOES exist within Facebook already, the default settings are permissive (you have to explicitly block each and every application). While I do play Mafia Wars and a couple others, I don't want to see all the thousands of stupid quizzes that people are creating all the time. I'm tired of having to block them every time a new one pops up. Of course I'm misrepresenting the number of quizzes I see, but that doesn't mean they're not annoying.

This script is exclusive by default and if you want something to show up, you have to specifically "whitelist" it. It also gives you the ability to block status updates with select text phrases in them. For example, I do not play "Zoo World", but have several family members that do. They recently posted a number of updates regarding game play that I couldn't block with the built in tools, but once this script was installed and "Zoo World" added to the blocks, the posts disappeared.

Rather handy in my book.
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crade (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 10:26am

The laws to make it illegal to attempt to avoid any sort of advertisement are coming soon.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 10:40am

Re: Pretty cool... Thanks Facebook!!
I just installed it to, and damn it looks so much better now.

I started a Facebook account yesterday and already my wall, or whatever it's called, was full. Now it's down to 4 posts (I only have 1 friend).
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Steven Roussey, 25 Mar 2010 @ 10:47am

Facebook and Apple
Both want to own what you use. Apple has a better chance...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
StarNoStar, 25 Mar 2010 @ 10:48am

I stopped using facebook years ago, I'm happy I did.

Facebook can be very useful in certain situations, but for the average joe...its MUCH more satisfying to interact with friends in reality.
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Al, 25 Mar 2010 @ 10:57am

Re: Re: Pretty cool... Thanks Facebook!!
"(I only have 1 friend)"

- awww, I'll be your friend...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 11:00am

Re:
I have lots of friends, and it's more than possible to keep up with blocking the apps that appear. If you have a problem you probably need to block specific friends
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dan, 25 Mar 2010 @ 11:17am

Awfully trusting...
Why isn't there any link (or other details for that matter) regarding the alleged bullying? The whole story here is about the script.
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Mason Sklut, 25 Mar 2010 @ 11:18am

Facebook Doesn't Know Interface Design At All
"UnFuck Facebook" with this handy Greasemonkey script:
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/11992

Facebook you have no right to complain. It's a user's own choice!

Maybe when you guys make a better user-interface and REAL privacy options, then you can talk. Otherwise, quit screwing up your already screwed up website.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 11:26am

Re: Re: Pretty cool... Thanks Facebook!!
that's the sadest story I heard today :'(
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MBraedley (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 11:35am

Re:
I actually told a friend that she spent far too much time on Farmville, because it occupied all but two of her wall posts.

I never got a response.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 11:39am

Re: Re:
Alrighty, sit right down kid and I'll tell you about efficiency.

Now when you have a repetitive action that occurs all the time that's time wasted. Sure it might not be anything more than a second but the seconds add up. Computers were invented to keep shaving time out of our lives of doing repetitive tasks.

Lets say it takes a minute to install this script. 60 seconds of life spent.

Lets say this AC uses facebook for at least 5 years, and has a copious amount of friends. So lets say 1 new app a week for 5 years where he has to spend a second going "hide app" that's 260 seconds approximately give or take leap years, leap seconds, leaping frogs slowing the rotation of the planet.

So this AC has saved 200 seconds of life from doing a simple task that was highly repetitive and pointless. And the time keeps racking up for as long as he uses facebook.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 11:39am

Re: Re:
probably to busy making sure those strawberries get picked in time.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 11:52am

Wow...awesome script. I never knew about this but thanks for the heads up. Installed it and it works great! I think Ill add the link to my status...
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Henry, 25 Mar 2010 @ 12:07pm

@Rick: The problem is that apps on Facebook are whitelisted by default and you "blacklist" (i.e. block) apps you don't want to see. Unfortunately, users of the script in general hate the majority of apps so they want a Facebook where apps are blacklisted by default, and you "whitelist" those you want to see (i.e. like Nokia applications which post via their own application).
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Brian (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 12:09pm

hides more than apps
for those saying that Facebook already gives you this ability, perhaps you can tell us how to get rid of all of those "is a fan of" posts.
That to me was the biggest issue, as I was already blocking mafiawars and farmville crap.

I even had to block a few friends because they were 'fans' of so many groups and pages.

Problem was, I didn't want to block people, just the fluff.
THAT is what this script does. Clears out all of the junk.

But, it's there to see anytime you want by simply clicking on the 'show' link. So, if you needed to check on who became friends with who, a quick click shows the fluff (without the clutter of content).

If his facebook page is taken down, he may still have his site http://www.fbpurity.com
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rhandomina, 25 Mar 2010 @ 12:16pm

Re: I haven\'t gotten threats yet.
bingo - making money off it is usually a sure way to have the hounds out for blood.

I suspect it might also have to do with Facebook's 'games' and 'apps' feeds (which don't seem to be ramped up yet, as they're not catching everything for me) - possibly penalizing apps that don't play by the rules. No complaints from users (due to users hiding everything) == apps not getting caught... Although that would be easier for Facebook in terms of not having to deal with infringing apps
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 12:20pm

Re: Re:
Since facebook's programmers have rewritten the php runtime for their own commercial use, I'm sure they understand the browser model very well. This action sounds more like an isolated technologically illiterate management type trying to justify his existence, and I don't think anything much will come of it.
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The Drizzle, 25 Mar 2010 @ 12:20pm

Facebook
My favorite greasemonkey app is UNF#%K Facebook.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 12:24pm

Re: The script is redundant...
Because it DOESN'T do exactly what facebook does. You might want to read the app description before making such an assertion, or, you know, the article.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Greyson, 25 Mar 2010 @ 12:37pm

FINALLY!
Finally something to clean out all the unwanted CRAP on facebook!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Zac Morris (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 12:46pm

Latest post to the Author's FB page
Here is the latest post to the author's Facebook page:
Seems like a thin case Facebook has, but I've seen more ridiculous cases win. Do they have a leg to stand on?
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IPv6Freely, 25 Mar 2010 @ 1:11pm

Wha?
I dont get it.. why do people need a script for this? Why not just use Facebook Lite? http://lite.facebook.com
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Zac Morris (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 1:30pm

Why not lite?
@IPv6Freely, Because of the Pokes baby! ;-)

People don't want to be limited by what someone ELSE tells them they should want to see. It needs to be understood that user customization is a right, not a privilege!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
jonathan, 25 Mar 2010 @ 2:45pm

Facebook's trademark policies are very over-reaching
We developed an app for updating Facebook from Twitter that is now called TweetPo.st. It was originally called TweetFace until Facebook objected to the use of the word 'face' in the name. Unfortunately, we needed to use their APIs which made us subject to their draconian developer terms of service. As you said, this guy's app doesn't use anything from Facebook and it should be able to do whatever he (and his customers) want it to do.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 3:09pm

Been using purity for a while, extremely useful
not only does it keep your feed fairly clean, you're given istructions on how to alter it, so now i have no suggestions box, stuff like that
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Anonymoose, 25 Mar 2010 @ 3:48pm

Here's the dopey thing...
I'd actually stopped using Facebook after the last redesign. The signal to noise went to zero after they took away options to filter out specific things from feeds (e.g. joe is a friend of himself, appspam, etc).

Thanks to FB making a fuss, I know there's a tool that makes the site usable again. Reverse SE?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 4:29pm

What's Facebook?
I keep hearing about this, but all I hear seems to be be that is it is a big pile is steaming crap. I don't get why people want to roll around in it so much.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
nic, 25 Mar 2010 @ 4:43pm

Re:
You mean there are actually people in the world that don't know how to hide Farmville and Mafia Wars?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Matt Kruse, 25 Mar 2010 @ 5:02pm

"Better Facebook" is another greasemonkey script
Well, if this guy is getting in trouble, then surely I will shortly.

My domain is: http://BetterFacebook.net

My Greasemonkey script does a lot of what Facebook Purity does, plus a lot more. If they don't like his, they sure ad hell aren't going to like mine.

If they would spend this time improving their horrible site and minimal features, they might actually get rid of the need for these scripts. As it is, I depend on Better Facebook to make the site usable.

If nothing else, they should be finding the authors of these scripts and hiring them. Maybe then their site wouldn't need to be modified by user scripts to not suck.
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Rud Thomas, 25 Mar 2010 @ 5:08pm

Wow
Yeah buddy, bring in the bottom feeding, blood sucking attorneys!

RT
www.anonymous-proxy.us.tc
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Deus Invictus, 25 Mar 2010 @ 5:16pm

Re: Pretty cool... Thanks Facebook!!
You're not the only one I hadn't heard of it either. Thanks Streisand Effect!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jim, 25 Mar 2010 @ 5:38pm

Re: This functionality exists within Facebook already
Obviously you don't use facebook that much, or know anything about anything.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 5:47pm

And people wonder why I don't join Facebook.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Condominiums Philippines, 25 Mar 2010 @ 6:42pm

I am so installing this now!
I will install this application just to spite facebook.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Bob, 25 Mar 2010 @ 7:38pm

Re:
Actually it means there's people stupid enough not to click the hide button to hide all notices from that application.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
V2, 25 Mar 2010 @ 8:41pm

Get over it man...
It's totally justified of Facebook to be pissed at the guy for using their trademark! You can't even use Face or Book in the names of any applications you submit to Facebook. I can't just go out and start a company called Microsoft Purity without expecting Microsoft to be pissed.

This sounds more like a ploy to get people to download the script then anything else. As others have already pointed out you can already block all notifications from any application you want.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Vtoe, 25 Mar 2010 @ 8:42pm

Re: Re: This functionality exists within Facebook already
Yah man this sounds like a ploy to get notoriety for his buddies script.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Awesome, 25 Mar 2010 @ 8:53pm

Former FB purity user
I used to be a major evangelist of FB Purity. Then, FB started this practice of changing their page every week or so, and then I'd have to get an update to the FB Purity script, which could sometimes take a day.

What would happen is my news/status feed would suddenly be blank. After a few times, I learned to go to the FB Purity page each time this happened. If an update wasn't available, I would simply disable the script in Greesemonkey (or just disable GM).

Each time it disabled, I got flooded with Farmarea/Mafia Skirmish/Begemmed type notifications. Eventually, I got sick of the FB/FB Purity battles and just started hiding every app that came across my feed.

Now, each time I encounter a new app, I hide in 2 clicks and the problem is eliminated at the source (unless facebook looses all my hide settings by 'accident').
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Mar 2010 @ 8:55pm

Re: Get over it man...
"It's totally justified of Facebook to be pissed at the guy for using their trademark!"

Or, you know, not.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
mike, 25 Mar 2010 @ 8:59pm

Re: This functionality exists within Facebook already
Well the thing is you have to go through every friend you know and add the option to block apps from specifically them(very tedious if you have a lot of friends). The other option is to block the app itself, since there's new apps popping up everyday it's sorta impossible to do. So we have this lovely greasemonkey script... a nice one-click solution. Think about it, facebook wanted to make it a pain to block apps... thats why theres no "ingore all apps" button.
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John H., 25 Mar 2010 @ 9:27pm

Facebook Products
People- people with a FB account- often think of themselves as FB customers: and getting such a deal. When in fact they are actually Facebook's product. And the people who use Greasemonkey or whatnot to modify their FB feed are defective product.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sparr, 25 Mar 2010 @ 11:08pm

Re: This functionality exists within Facebook already
I don't think there is a way to block all app updates in the facebook interface. If there was, this app wouldn't be necessary.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
sparr (profile), 25 Mar 2010 @ 11:11pm

Hide which application?
There are tens of thousands of facebook applications. Before facebook purity, I was clicking the 'hide all from this app' button at least twice a day, and making very little headway.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Tom Landry (profile), 26 Mar 2010 @ 12:51am

lol-ing at the amount of folks discovering this script due to Facebook's butthurt.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 26 Mar 2010 @ 2:07am

Re: This functionality exists within Facebook already
Facebook changes it's configuration layout more frequently than most people can keep up with.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 26 Mar 2010 @ 2:12am

Re: Re:
Why should I have to 'keep up' if I don't want to?
I'm not interested in anything more than chatting with my friends overseas & seeing the photo's they have shared.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Justin, 26 Mar 2010 @ 2:16am

This functionality does NOT exist within facebook...
To everyone saying this functionality already exists, can you please then tell me how to block the extremely annoying "so-and-so has become friends with so-and-so" posts, and the "so-and-so has become a fan of 'something I really couldnt care less about'"? Those, more than any app notices, make this and similar scripts extremely helpful.
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From Norway, 26 Mar 2010 @ 2:47am

Re: This functionality exists within Facebook already
When you hide apps from your FB-feed, then you dont see it. Wich is fine, but all the apps still have access to your FB-info, pictures,and everything on your FB-account, AND all your FB-friends info, pictures, as well.
This is not privacy.
I use Adblock Plus to remove things i dont want in FB, and block all apps as they appear, I dont just hide it, I BLOCK IT.
But there is no way in FB to block all apps automatically, you have to block every single app manually.
Not everybody knows how to do this.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Nathaniel, 26 Mar 2010 @ 4:03am

Same here...
Only found this because of them opposing it, I feel a Streisand Effect coming on...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Tom, 26 Mar 2010 @ 5:02am

Facebook Script...We don't need no stinking Facebook Script
I've never had that problem with Facebook...wait, I NEVER use facebook...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Blah, 26 Mar 2010 @ 5:20am

Re: I haven\'t gotten threats yet.
Troll
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Txknight (profile), 26 Mar 2010 @ 5:34am

I too have slowed use of it, as it is filled with that crap, I dont about your farm or fish or war or dragon you need help with, freaking facebook,
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mentifex Cyborg, 26 Mar 2010 @ 5:41am

Is a FaceBunk app available?
Have never been on FaceBook but it sounds like we need to create a FaceBunk app to defeat the creeping corporatism immanent in the site stolen from ConnectU.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 26 Mar 2010 @ 6:40am

Yep, Thanks FB! I just installed the script also! ;-)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Matthew Fedak, 26 Mar 2010 @ 6:44am

its about time
Its about time someone found away around hiding those messages that we dont want to read in the feed. I dont speak to half of people I know on facebook so why would I care about what their texas hold em or mafia war score is.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Iain, 26 Mar 2010 @ 7:19am

Yay!
I'm going to be installing this, thanks!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Scott K, 26 Mar 2010 @ 7:37am

Re: This functionality exists within Facebook already
Facebook is free, but it's not really "free" free, and definitely not free to run. They make their money off ad revenue, and I was reading something the other day that Farmville (or whoever makes it) is their number one source of ad revenue.

So... Somebody writes a script that blocks all app feedback from the news feed, that means fewer people are enticed into Farmville by seeing their friends playing, means Farmville starts losing revenue, means they complain to Facebook, means Facebook reacts with threats.

Personally, I don't see it as bullying. It's Facebook trying to protect their revenue stream, which they have to do if you want Facebook to stay around.

On the flip side, if Greasemonkey wants to avoid the trademark issues they should just rename it so it doesn't have the letters F or B anywhere in the name. Go to News Stream Purity or something like that. They're trying to play games with tap dancing around the Facebook name - they should just avoid it altogether.
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Ivan, 26 Mar 2010 @ 7:52am

Re: This functionality exists within Facebook already
The built in application hider only blocks out items that were directly generated by the application.

As such, friends becoming fans of the app, or other user action generated items will still leak through. I think more and more of these Mafia Wars type games are doing this to get past the built in Application Hide button.
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Leave Facebook, 26 Mar 2010 @ 8:10am

Leave Facebook. Just leave it. Quit the site. If I could leave Facebook again I'd leave it and attribute it to this BS.

Facebook is run by wold famous douche-canoe Mark Zuckerberg, who in the early days of the site sabotaged a competitor and hacked into the email of editors of the Harvard student paper. Now that he was some weight to throw around you get stuff like this, and Beacon. Don't give this guy any more power over your social life. Quit Facebook.
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fudge, 26 Mar 2010 @ 8:51am

Agree with 'Leave Facebook'
Already been there and done that.
It's just another mySpace with a lot of hype.
It was a good concept once-upon-a-time.
Too bad all good concepts in virtual reality get greedy and bloated.
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fudge, 26 Mar 2010 @ 8:51am

Agree with 'Leave Facebook'
Already been there and done that.
It's just another mySpace with a lot of hype.
It was a good concept once-upon-a-time.
Too bad all good concepts in virtual reality get greedy and bloated.
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IJ, 26 Mar 2010 @ 10:07am

Re: This functionality exists within Facebook already
It's quite easy for ongoing game apps like mafia wars or farmvile since there aren't as many popular ones. Block it once and it's gone for good.

What's great about FB Purity is it blocks the annoying quizzes too. It seems like every week a new "what character from the Goonies movie are you?" quiz makes it's rounds and blocking them individually is time consuming and pointless since by next week a new quiz will be going.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Mar 2010 @ 10:45am

Re:
I wonder what it would take to make this a full-blown Firefox extension...
This.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Mar 2010 @ 11:04am

It is becoming apparent that Facebook is growing too big for its britches. What people do on their own browser after content is served is THEIR BUSINESS.

I mean, really: Did everyone at Facebook suddenly start swallowing handfuls of douchebag pills?
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Soft ARC, 26 Mar 2010 @ 11:36am

FB Don't try to be Bully !
What FB is trying to do huh ?! trying to be big bully ?!

Don't forget that us, the users, are the one who's driving up FB's popularity and become what it is today...and now FB want to control what we want to do for ourselves ?
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Matt Kruse, 26 Mar 2010 @ 1:24pm

Re: Re: [Firefox Add-on, Greasemonkey script compiler]
The script compiler has an annoying unicode bug. See:
http://mattkruse.com/2010/03/26/greasemonkey-json-unicode-problems-solved/

If you want a native Firefox Add-on to clean your stream and do lots of fun stuff, go here:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/52369

It's not FB Purity, but it's better.
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Jon, 26 Mar 2010 @ 3:36pm

what ... the ... fuck?
I cant belive it. If i had used facebook i would used it. No doubt. I have friends and family who use it and i know i would be happy to get rid of it.

This is just stupid. So now every website that make money from adds will sue or try to stop people from using noscript, adblock, etc?
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anon, 26 Mar 2010 @ 4:56pm

Well, Facebook now just got a bunch of people to return to their site or spend more time there. What were they thinking?
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sean, 26 Mar 2010 @ 5:58pm

Re: This functionality exists within Facebook already
WRONG.

You have to manually OPT OUT of every stupid new piece of fluff your friends are dumb enough to engage in on FB.

FBpurity opts you out and gives you a convienent control panel.

FB is already a big enough waste of time and bandwidth without all the crappy apps, events, updates, adds, suggestions, questions your friends answered about you.
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stimpysean (profile), 26 Mar 2010 @ 6:10pm

Re: Re:
It means there are people SMART enough to no want to turn off every annoying piece of crap facebook wants you to see. opting out over and over only makes you feel smart for so long. eventually fb purity is for you.
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stimpysean (profile), 26 Mar 2010 @ 6:22pm

Re: The script is redundant...
The script is redundant...
by Rick

Why someone felt a need to write a script that Facebook to do what you can do already YOURSELF on Facebook is beyond me.

I do that every time I see a Bejewelled horoscope zoo island type post from anyone and my feed is clean as can be....
-----

Rick,

You wrote the above.. Don't you see the irony in your post??

How much time do you have to spend "cleaning your feed"???

Things like Ad block, and greasemonkey make the new "Web" tolerable.
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Daemon_ZOGG (profile), 26 Mar 2010 @ 9:26pm

HEY FACEBOOK!!
SHUDUPAYAFACE!! It happens in the browser. And there's nothin' you can do about it. }:P In fact, I'm running a script right now that blocks my network users from viewing your stupid, flash-based facebook ads on other websites. While there's nothing wrong with facebook users.. The facebook krones are the ones being DORKS. }:P
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bugs, 27 Mar 2010 @ 5:57am

stupid farmville
I used to delete or hide friends that play stupid farmville. The bugs in the Farmville really bugs me. Thanks for the info.
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Andrew Hime, 28 Mar 2010 @ 3:46pm

Re:
Because, if you have more than about 5 friends, they can add annoying apps that pollute your news feed faster than you can block them. It's an arms race you can't win. No. Not really.
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Annomene, 29 Mar 2010 @ 3:01am

Isn't it obvious?
FB doesn't want this script for one simple reason. If you disable this kind of messages on FB youselves, then FB knows you don't want this notices. If you use the script FB dosen't know anything. Thus they can collect less information about you.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Mar 2010 @ 4:11am

Re: Pretty cool... Thanks Facebook!!
me too...
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Mar 2010 @ 12:58pm

Greasemonkey to xpi
Copy and Paste?

http://arantius.com/misc/greasemonkey/script-compiler
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jiml, 29 Mar 2010 @ 8:35pm

Greasmonkey vs Facebook
Evil facebook. Why should they complain, if they can not clean up after themselves. Facebook cannot admit they're dirty and dirty up your environment. So, they get mad when they cannot leave their poo around. Bad software engineering. Bad company. This is worth calling the BBB.
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Jeremy, 29 Mar 2010 @ 9:30pm

Re: Pretty cool... Thanks Facebook!!
That is hilarious it always happens. :P
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bugmenot (profile), 1 Apr 2010 @ 12:54am

i dont care if facebook is a bully. im smart enough to know who my friends are without the need to log onto a webpage in order to find out.
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Bob Smith, 13 Apr 2010 @ 10:16am

Re: its about time
Why would you be friends with them if you don't talk to them ... AND THEN complain about what is on their wall????
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2010 @ 5:19pm

Re:
why fb is like the best>>>>>>>>>>>>lol
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GreaseMonkeyRocks, 28 Apr 2010 @ 1:12pm

Facebook script best thing ever
I must say that I love the unf**kfacebook script is best script ever written it cleans up all the useless junk that face book has on their website it is nice that i can get rid of all the annoyances from face book and bring it back to how it use to be when it started with almost no app notifications. Face-book should just have an option to remove all those apps from your account including all the tracking information that these apps provide when installed by users. First face-book had horribly privacy agreement which was slightly improved and now they try to bully a guy that has made face-book experience better at lest for me I am sure other users out there as well. How can you punish someone who created a script that is harmless and improves usability and look of face book.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 May 2010 @ 7:25pm

I recall being bewildered by all those farmville things when I couldn't get on it. I agree there should be a way to disable them if you want. Those who post are posting for fellow players to interact, so those who don't play should be able to opt out of the feeds. Or maybe one should just automatically opt in anyone who plays and by default leave out those who don't-but then again facebook and zynga probably consider that cutting off their advertising!
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Joe, 11 Jun 2010 @ 9:38am

Thank you Facebook.
Thank you so much Facebook. If you hadn't of bullied this guy, I would have never of found this script. Now I can find it and use it. Thank you Facebook for letting me find the script.
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anila, 9 May 2011 @ 2:22pm

hello i need facebook help
hello i need your help i need to know is there any script of face book wich can send several wall posts my id is been hacked and the person hacked it usin it in a bad way whenever i post there that its a fake id dont reply to my friends that person delete it i want to send so many messages that he cant delte it pls if anybudy can help reply on my email i will b v thankfull
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Some Guy, 13 Apr 2013 @ 7:13am

I hate when site admins hunt down greasemonkey authors. I had problems on one site too for publishing 2 scripts. Year later they added that functionality natively to site. (which I'm proud of)
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The Ceej, 28 Feb 2016 @ 2:52am

You mean Facebook, one of the two largest data farms in the world, and one of the most authoritarian companies in the world, that has an unholy alliance with many shady types, including governments, will go out of their way to stop one from exercising personal choice in their every day life?
NO!! That could never happen!

I mean, it's not as if Facebook does this sort of thing and worse all the time! It's not as if they regularly deliberately break userscripts. It's not as if they wilfully sabotage relationships or unethically adjust Facebook feed contents for their own "studies" jollies. It's not as if they roll back the like counts and delete comments on people they feel are a threat to them. It's not as if they hide things from people's feeds as punishment both for the poster and the person who wants to view it. It's not as if they spy on you all over the internet, and even in your offline life too...

There's no way they'd do this sort of thing!
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