Back off, Zuckerberg.

September 22, 2011 4:50 PM

I hate intrusive facebook. My favorite facebook blocker is 3 versions of firefox behind and doesn't appear to be actively updated anymore. What's more, with the latest redesign, FB has a new social plugin thing on other sites that I can't figure out how to block. What's the best way to keep facebook and its assorted APIs, plugins, sniffers, trackers and malware on its own damn webpage?
posted by T.D. Strange to Technology (13 answers total)

Only login in an incognito window, and keep it separate from the rest of your browsing? At least that way other sites will not know that you have facebook, though the links might still be there.
posted by brainmouse at 4:55 PM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

I installed the remove facebook like buttons greasemonkey whatsit a while back, and haven't noticed any new social plugins or facebook-related anything on any other sites since the facebook redesign. What websites are you seeing the social plugin on? I can go check for you and see if they show up for me.
posted by phunniemee at 5:07 PM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think the Ghostery Firefox extension blocks the facebook junk on other pages. At least, with my combination of Ghostery and Adblock I never see it.
posted by ghharr at 5:13 PM on September 22, 2011

I see you mentioned Ghostery in that other post so maybe you're using it already but I just checked on a site that has FB crap and Ghostery tells me it's blocking "facebook connect" and "facebook social plugins" (as well as 10 other things. Jesus Christ, The Atlantic).
posted by ghharr at 5:17 PM on September 22, 2011

Best answer: The extension you linked to was last updated in July this year to mark it compatible with Firefox 5. That's not too far behind. I'd expect it will get another update at some point, but until it does you could try modifying it yourself to mark it Firefox 6 compatible and see if it still works - I bet it would.

To do this on Windows:

1. Download the current XPI and save it on your desktop.

2. Rename it from facebookBlocker_v1.2.4.xpi to facebookBlocker_v1.2.4.zip (you might want to turn off Hide extensions for known filetypes to make this easier).

3. Double-click facebookBlocker_v1.2.4.zip to open it. Inside you should see a file named install.rdf, among other things. Copy that and paste it to your desktop.

4. Right-click the desktop copy of install.rdf and choose Open With->Wordpad (use Wordpad rather than Notepad; install.rdf typically uses Unix-style end-of-line markers and these confuse Notepad).

5. Near the end of the text you'll see em:maxVersion="5.*" - change that to em:maxVersion="9.*" which should keep the thing alive through the next several iterations of Firefox's mad new version numbering.

6. Save and close install.rdf.

7. Drag the desktop copy of install.rdf back into facebookBlocker_v1.2.4.zip.

8. Rename facebookBlocker_v1.2.4.zip as facebookBlocker_v1.2.4.xpi.

9. Drag facebookBlocker_v1.2.4.xpi and drop it on an open Firefox window. It should install.

On Mac and Linux you can generally just open a .xpi file with an archive manager without doing the rename dance, which saves a few steps.
posted by flabdablet at 5:19 PM on September 22, 2011 [3 favorites]

I use BetterFacebook on Chrome and it's pretty troublefree.
posted by Ideefixe at 5:33 PM on September 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Ah I had gotten away from ghostery with the update to firefox 6. (really? 5 was just a few months ago)
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:36 PM on September 22, 2011

No Script does this simply and in an easily reversible manner. It is actively updated and as a bonus, it blocks a lot of other random crap and ads.
posted by 517 at 5:39 PM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

You don't need a whole extension to do this. Just add these three rules to Adblock plus:

||facebook.com$domain=~www.facebook.com
||facebook.net$domain=~www.facebook.com
||fbcdn.net$domain=~www.facebook.com
posted by Rhomboid at 5:54 PM on September 22, 2011 [3 favorites]

Facebook's obnoxious, "grabby hands" behavior was one of the main factors in my decision to delete my Facebook account. I am pleased to report that this solution has, so far, been quite satisfactory.
posted by ErikaB at 5:58 PM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Can facebook APIs know who you are if you're never logged in to facebook in the first place? If you actually use facebook, keep a special browser for it.
posted by westerly at 6:06 PM on September 22, 2011

If you actually use facebook, keep a special browser for it.

Yeah, I downloaded RockMelt just to use with Facebook. It's a nice browser, built on Chrome, and it has the built-in sidebar, etc, so I never forget I'm in my Facebook-only browser.
posted by clerestory at 7:11 PM on September 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Ghostery does not exactly block the pop ups - although it can be configured that way. It has been a god send for me - no more FB c***!

Works with FF V8 (sounds like a Ferrari?) also!
posted by fox_terrier_guy at 11:04 AM on September 23, 2011