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Facebook deletes Social Fixer page, blocks page admins

socialfixer.com

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Re: Facebook deletes Social Fixer page, blocks page admins

#71

Post by Karunamon »

res0nat0r wrote: post #35
Karunamon wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So does Adblock Plus, so does Noscript, so do the content filtering features of major browsers, yet those all have major pages. Blocking the people is just plain dickery on Facebook's part.

Not at all. FBpurity is still functioning. I have to download it from a 3rd party site. You can't expect Facebook to allow products which deliberately violate their TOS to be hosted/promoted/advertised on Facebook .

>You can't expect Facebook to allow products which deliberately violate their TOS to be hosted/promoted/advertised on Facebook.

I certainly can (and do) expect humanity and rational thought to take priority over cold application of The Rules Über Alles - and any instances of the latter deserve to be called out for the silliness that they are.

Further, it's not like Facebook didn't know about this until now. Social Fixer used to be called Better Facebook until Facebook tapped them on the shoulder and asked them to change the name last year.

Re: Facebook deletes Social Fixer page, blocks page admins

#72

Post by Karunamon »

Gormo wrote: post #70
res0nat0r wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately altering the FB experience, api or not is against their TOS.

He's explaining that he never accepted their TOS in the first place, because he never did anything that required him to.

It's pretty hard to develop an app that modifies the way a site is displayed to logged in users without being logged in to the site yourself...

Re: Facebook deletes Social Fixer page, blocks page admins

#73

Post by mattkruse »

pdonis wrote: post #66
mattkruse wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. But also note - this isn't a point of failure. It's an annoyance, and it's Facebook being arbitrary and inconsistent. But it doesn't affect my ability to deliver the product. It just makes it a little harder, because the most logical communication medium between myself and my users has been taken away.

the most logical communication medium between myself and my users has been taken away. Were you paying Facebook to provide your business [edit: I see from another post of yours that it's actually a side project--so this might not be strictly applicable to you, but I still think it's worth bringing up] with a communication medium between you and your users? I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the answer is no.…

I agree with this, and (1) is kind of the warning I was trying to spread to other business owners, for whom this is NOT just a side project. I can get around this. Other people and businesses seem to be going "all in" on Facebook, without realizing what a huge risk they are taking. I understood and understand the risk. That's part of the game I'm playing with them, but I also have the right to call them out when I don't like it, and to bring attention to this problem that others might have at some point.

Re: Facebook deletes Social Fixer page, blocks page admins

#74

Post by mattkruse »

res0nat0r wrote: post #62
mattkruse wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. What they said. Social Fixer is not bound by any API TOS, because I do not use their API or any official mechanism they offer. I am not a Facebook Developer, and this isn't a Facebook App. This is, of course, intentional, because I don't want to be bound by the Developer TOS.

Unfortunately altering the FB experience, api or not is against their TOS.

If you're referring to point 3.11, then I don't agree. This is not the intent of this provision. This is clearly targeted at malware or other software that prevents the proper working of Facebook against the user's wishes. Otherwise, it would be a violation of their TOS to disable Javascript, change your font, or use custom CSS in your browser.

Re: Facebook deletes Social Fixer page, blocks page admins

#75

Post by baq »

3825 wrote: post #57
captainmuon wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook shouldn't be allowed to ban that. Facebook is so big, it has become infrastructure. That it is not regulated yet is the real scandal.

At what point does regulation kick in? Is it the same thing as the fuzzy "I don't know how to define it but I know it when I see it"? Why isn't Comcast regulated like a utility? It definitely ought to be if we regulate Facebook.

> Why isn't Comcast regulated like a utility?

good question.

Re: Facebook deletes Social Fixer page, blocks page admins

#76

Post by res0nat0r »

mattkruse wrote: post #74
res0nat0r wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately altering the FB experience, api or not is against their TOS.

If you're referring to point 3.11, then I don't agree. This is not the intent of this provision. This is clearly targeted at malware or other software that prevents the proper working of Facebook against the user's wishes. Otherwise, it would be a violation of their TOS to disable Javascript, change your font, or use custom CSS in your browser.

> This is clearly targeted at malware or other software that prevents the proper working of Facebook against the user's wishes.

Facebook could be defining anything that blocks or interferes with their advertising and revenue stream as malware.

Re: Facebook deletes Social Fixer page, blocks page admins

#77

Post by res0nat0r »

Karunamon wrote: post #71
res0nat0r wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not at all. FBpurity is still functioning. I have to download it from a 3rd party site. You can't expect Facebook to allow products which deliberately violate their TOS to be hosted/promoted/advertised on Facebook .

>You can't expect Facebook to allow products which deliberately violate their TOS to be hosted/promoted/advertised on Facebook. I certainly can (and do) expect humanity and rational thought to take priority over cold application of The Rules Über Alles - and any instances of the latter deserve to be called out for the silliness that they are. Further, it's not like Facebook didn't know about this until now. Social Fi…

FB, Google, Amazon etc aren't humanitarian organizations or charity. They are in the business of providing a product, and making money while doing it.

Re: Facebook deletes Social Fixer page, blocks page admins

#78

Post by chris_wot »

electic wrote: post #4

It is also against Facebook TOS to create or use browser extensions to alter the Facebook experience. This has been the rule for many years. The fact that this page and extension did not get banned sooner is the real story.

I've always wondered how effective Facebook is at enforcing its policies. I've seen plenty of pages that I know are gaming likes, and while I report them nothing ever seems to be done.

Are Facebook really serious about stopping abuses of their system?

Re: Facebook deletes Social Fixer page, blocks page admins

#79

Post by palakchokshi »

Karunamon wrote: post #72
Gormo wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's explaining that he never accepted their TOS in the first place, because he never did anything that required him to.

It's pretty hard to develop an app that modifies the way a site is displayed to logged in users without being logged in to the site yourself...

Not true. I've created a browser extension that inserted a menu item to Facebook's menu for each facebook story. I didn't have to be signed in as a facebook developer to do that.

Re: Facebook deletes Social Fixer page, blocks page admins

#80

Post by freshhawk »

sigh, all these "hackers" confused about the difference between a facebook app and a browser extension, confused about the difference between the app and the facebook page about the app ...

These comments are depressing as hell.

On topic: I'd just be happy you lasted this long with a facebook page for an extension that does this kind of thing. This gets you an extra bump in publicity and now you don't have the threat of this hanging over your head anymore. Is there anything that your users want that would really piss Facebook off that you can do now but were wary of doing before because of not wanting to push them too far? Aggressive ad filtering?

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