So, yo. Handy FB tip for reducing irritation (yours and mine). Got folks who use Apps? See invites from said folks? Still like them but don’t like the invites? Do something about it, because those apps are designed to share themselves around, kind of like herpes, and the sharing isn’t necessarily something they can control.

In the top blue bar, look for the padlock and three bars (to the right of the globe). Click that icon, then click the link at the bottom that says [See More Settings].

On the left you’ll see a link called [Blocking] (red circle, white bar). Click that link and then scroll down to the third section (App Invites). Type in the name of the offender(s).

Et voila, no more app invites from said person(s).

I’m up to an even dozen. I can still see their other posts, when they bother to do something other than play games.

And note: I don’t play games because they’re generally designed to pry into your friends list and do precisely this: Grab your data and keep it for their nefarious use. Not just time wasters, these “social” apps are privacy busters.

Just say no.

Comments:

Me: GG – here’s the good one to share. 8)

DK: If you have a friend who’s always finding new apps to use, you can block app invites from that person. On that same “Blocking” page, look for “Block app invites”. Place your friend’s name in the “Block invites from” box. Now you’ll see all their status updates, and any Event invitations, but not when the use a new game.

EJ: While intended for something else, I found Adblock Plus to be a wonderful way to reduce faicebukk irritation:
https://adblockplus.org/

LS: Yep. Adblock Plus is the way to go. And it works on way more than just FB.

EJ: I guess I should mention that I installed ABP not so much because of the amount of junk posts, but because FB did this nasty thing of “pegging” my CPU usage near 100%. It was constantly “doing stuff” that kept my CPU busy, which slowed down “other stuff”, and made my CPU run hotter than normal. This was/is a “known problem” with FB, but FB doesn’t seem to have any interest in dealing with the problem, or perhaps, admitting that it’s a problem in the first place.

LS: It has no incentive to fix anything that doesn’t drive away users. And let’s face it, the average FB user is willing to put up with a sharp stick in the eye every few weeks when the interface changes to make it more useful and friendly to advertisers.

DK: Social Fixer is another great add-on for FB. It will stop FB from continuing in infinite loops.

Me: AbP will also not fix the problem I’m addressing specifically with this note. App invites aren’t ads. They’re specific actions connected to and generated by the apps themselves.

While it’s good stuff, along with Social Fixer, it might be more appropriate for a separate post. Thanks!