Not all extension authors keep their code updated with Facebook’s frequent changes, so the user experience could get worse over time and things may break.</ul> I sympathize with their concerns, but I don’t think that more control is the solution. I believe that if you want to enable people to use things how they choose and optimize their use of your site, you must let go of some of these worries. Yes, users can potentially mess up their own experience. But that is a risk you must accept to maintain their freedom to control their own browser. Freedom is more important than control.

What About AdBlock? Why Not Go After Them?

AdBlock Plus is the biggest Firefox extension available – much more widely used than Social Fixer. It also blocks ads on Facebook and in the news feed. Shouldn’t they be target #1 for Facebook? Apparently not. Their Page is still up, with over 200,000 Likes. Similarly, so is the Page for “FB Purity”, another extension with similar feed filtering capabilities. Shouldn’t their Pages be removed as well?

I asked about both of these cases, as examples, and I was told by the person at Facebook that she was not aware of these apps or Pages, but would check into them.

So What Do I Plan To Do?

For now, my plan is to comply with their requests and remove the features that they object to. The purpose is not just to get the Page back (how this all started) but also to avoid the possible actions above.

As many users have already noted, this makes Social Fixer much less useful. I agree. I will continue working on ways to bring these features back. Many have suggested that I contact the EFF about this, and I plan to do so.

Opinion: The End Of The Power User

Charlie Warzel interviewed me a few weeks ago after the Page removal and wrote a story called “The End Of The Power User” about how tech companies are increasingly shutting out the most experienced and proficient users of their own services. I talked about this a bit with Facebook as well, and wrote a few paragraphs in email with my thoughts on this.

I believe that Facebook and other tech companies should embrace the people who want to use their services to their fullest potential. I created Social Fixer because I want to use Facebook more efficiently! I’m not stealing their content, or trying to get people to switch to Google+, or bad-mouthing every move they make. I’m improving the experience for users.

By taking a stance of embracing the power user community, companies like Facebook could get a reputation of supporting and empowering users. Instead, every user I talk to now seems to think that Facebook is going downhill and increasingly making decisions that benefit their stock holders rather than their users. That’s unfortunate.

The people at Facebook seemed to be understanding of my thoughts on this. I’m sure they’ve heard it before. They also seemed open to the idea of having further discussions on the issues and concerns of external developers.

What Can You Do?

I’m not going to organize a big protest of Facebook or a campaign to make our voices heard. Ain’t nobody got time for that! But if you would like to contact them in an appropriate manner, feel free to do so.

You can share this blog post, to let other people know about these changes and perhaps get some attention to the issue. If enough people question their attempt to control users’ browsers, perhaps they will reconsider. You can also upvote the post on Reddit if you use it.

Finally, you can donate to help the cause. I’ll be honest – donations aren’t going to go towards a legal fund or anything. But they will probably go towards me taking my wife out on a date or taking the kids on a weekend trip so I can get away from all this for a bit, relax, and get some clarity about how to move forward.

Let me know your thoughts – comment on this post on Facebook. Thanks!

Stay Tuned…

I will keep you all updated about any progress I make on this. Be sure to keep an eye on this blog, and Like my temporary Page on Facebook for news: Important News for SFX Users.

Thank you for your continued support while I sort through all these issues. I hope I can get everything settled so I can get back to coding and making Facebook better!

– Matt Kruse, developer of Social Fixer