Google hits back at Greasemonkey users

Filed under: Internet, News, Windows, Macintosh, Linux

Google hits back at Greasemonkey users

by Marc Perton Jun 28th 2005

I really like the Greasemonkey extension for Firefox, which lets you change the appearance and functionality of web sites using snippets of DHTML. But some site developers are a little worried about it, since it goes beyond adblockers, popup blockers and other client-side tools and literally lets you completely rewrite the sites you visit. So, I'm not surprised that Google has started warning some Gmail users that Greasemonkey "interferes with Gmail," and should be disabled when users browse the site. I've used a couple of Greasemonkey hacks for Gmail — to add a Delete button and save searches — and they go a long way toward adding functionality that Google has left out. But I can't really blame Google for trying, especially if the extensions are hitting their servers hard. In the end, however, commercial site operators are going to have to learn to cope with Greasemonkey in less aggressive ways, or risk alienating their customers.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jordan Running said 12:04PM on 6-28-2005

This happened to me about a month ago. I had installed the Gmail Tweaks user script, which creates "persistent searches" in Gmail, and a couple weeks later I was suddenly locked out of Gmail. Sending an e-mail to the address provided in the "lockdown" message just got me an uninformative autoresponse. I was pretty panicked since I was expecting a few important e-mails that day. After about five hours, I was able to get in again. A test e-mail that I had sent from another address to my Gmail acccount was waiting for me when I was finally able to log in again, so it would seem that Gmail still accepts incoming mail while you're locked out. Still, it was a pretty alarming experience.

I understand where Google is coming from with this, but there's got to be a better way.

Richard said 12:28PM on 6-28-2005

There is a better way. If companies don't want people to use GreaseMonkey scripts then they should take a long hard look at what they do and consider implementing the "missing" functionality.

I'm not suggesting every script should be implemented (as that would be silly) but if 20,000 people are using a GreaseMonkey script which provides persistant searches or a delete button ... well then, maybe thats actually a good thing to have?

Teli said 12:41PM on 6-28-2005

That seems very logical to me Richard - companies should start paying attention to what functionality their customers want and implement it.

I myself have filled out the Gmail requested "feedback report" and suggested (more than once) that they should have a delete button.

Sure, Google may not want us to delete mail ever again (just search for it) - but there is still a good quantity of email that I would want to delete...JMO

ov said 1:10PM on 6-28-2005

I don't know much about the delete button script, but I think the problem with the persistent searches script is the number of search results that gets displayed. I think it amounts to a fair amount of server side traffic, which I can understand google being concerned about. Of course, they should just implement it themselves (they'll probably find a much more efficient method), but in the meantime, I personally just disabled the search queries part of the script. It's the beauty of client-side scripting.

Gil Creque said 3:54PM on 6-28-2005

I think Google warning people to stop doing this is totally ridiculous when they do the exact same thing with there Web Accelerator. They inject code into people's pages for maps on Google and even worse, redirecting traffic that possibly is making you money. For example, let's say you have a book review on your site and you have your associate's id attached so you can get credited with the referral. Google's Web Accelerator will change the code to being referred by them. It even points people to Amazon while surfing other book store sites (i.e. Barnes and Noble). I don't think they have a leg to stand on. Read more about it here.

http://www.zeldman.com/daily/0205f.shtml

Jeremy Dunck said 5:15AM on 7-02-2005

OK, there's a fair bit of misinformation running around, so I'll sure what I know.

Are you sure it was the persistent search?

I'm asking because the GMail Smart Delete script had a bug in it which caused mail to be polled continuously. All reports of lockouts that I know of have been due to this script. This amounted to a DDOS due to all the people running with the bug.

It is _not_ the same as Accelerator; that tool is throttled and doesn't fetch data from same site continuously.

"
Google's Web Accelerator will change the code to being referred by them
"

I sincerely believe you are smoking crack. It will link any unlinked ISBN, but it does _not_ override any existing links, including any amazon links with affiliate IDs.

Here's a handy example page to test on.
http://joelonsoftware.com/navLinks/BuytheBooks.html

And one it actually will do something on:
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
Here's an ISBN: 1590593898
</body>
</html>

Stephanie Rahardja said 5:13PM on 7-06-2005

Well I for one love the Delete button script.
Previously I had always battled with having to use the drop down menu to find "delete" and then click it. It was just so much of a hassle. And then sometimes you'd accidentally click on "add star" instead of delete.

I know of many others who say the same thing. So when I found the Delete greasemonkey script I was very grateful.

I know the point of having all that space is so you'll never have to delete an email again, but when you have lots of emails you'll never need to read again, it's a headache to have them clutter your inbox.

I have used the Feedback form to ask about deleting messages but nothing has been done, so for now I'll stick with the script.

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters