Nancy, a Chrome browser extension for Metafilter

Nancy is a Chrome browser extension for use with Metafilter that can be downloaded from the Chrome Web Store at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/nancy/imecdfomlajaibcoifhehollkfcgjgib. Nancy allows filtering Metafilter posts and comments from view. You can choose to filter posts and comment, only posts, only comments, or show everything. A filter can be triggered by text in a post, the Metafilter user who made the post or comment, or a link within the post or comment. It works for both registered and unregistered (or not logged in) Metafilter users. Nancy is based on the diediedead Greasemonkey script, although it differs somewhat in actual operation.

There are two methods to use Nancy with Metafilter. First, you can use the context menu (right-click) to select what to filter, how to filter, and to go the configure menu. Or you can go directly to the configure menu by selecting Settings in Chrome, choosing Extensions, finding the entry for Nancy, and clicking on Options.

The context menu can be used to quickly create filters and to choose filter actions. If you right click on a user in a post or comment, Nancy's context menu will have an entry Filter for user which, when selected, adds a filter for that user. If you highlight text, the context menu will show Filter for text <selected text>. Right click on a link to Filter for base link (e.g. "www.example.com/extra?stuff"  will add a filter for any link that matches "www.example.com".

Within the options page itself, place users whose posts you want filtered in the filter users text box, the text of posts you want filtered in the second text box, and posts containing sites you want filtered in the third box. Note that the user name must be an exact match. Text filters are are not case sensitive and considered to be a whole word or set of words, e.g. "cow" will not match "cows", but "BIG COWS" will match "big cows". Sites match any part of a link.

To turn off all filters, choose Show all content. If filters should apply to both posts and comments to posts, choose Filter posts and comments, otherwise choose filters only or posts only.

If you have questions about using the extension, post them here.

Metafilter Greasemonkey script diediedead major update

A new, enhanced, version of the diediedead Greasemonkey script to filter out users on Metafilter is available for download at http://www.devoresoftware.com/gm/dddead/diediedead.user.js. The script was updated to work with the current version of Metafilter, as well as Greasemonkey and Firefox. It works for both registered and unregistered users, with any Firefox platform that supports Greasemonkey scripts, e.g. Windows, OS X, and Linux.

There are two methods to use the script, and both are active only while the browser location is a Metafilter site. First, you can use the browser menu pulldown Tools/Greasemonkey/User Script Commands.../Configure filters, as shown:

to bring up the configuration dialog box, as show in this example from a MetaTalk topic:

You may also use the context menu (right-click), to bring up a menu that will look similar to this:

Choose diediedead! and you will see a submenu:

 

If you select the last entry, Configure filters, the configuration dialog box will be displayed.

The configuration is, hopefully, reasonably self-explanatory. Place users whose posts you want filtered in the filter users text box, the text of posts you want filtered in the second text box, and posts containing sites you want filtered in the third box. Note that the user must be an exact match. Text filters are are not case sensitive and considered to be a whole word or set of words, e.g. cow will not match cows, but BIG COWS will match big cows. Sites match any part of a link.

The next grouping determines how filters work. If you want to temporarily turn off filters, choose the Show all content radio button. If filters should apply to both posts and comments to posts, choose Filter posts & comments. If you want your filters to apply only to posts, and not in comments to posts, choose posts only. For the reverse, choose comments only.

To streamline this process, the context menu can be used to quickly create filters and to choose filter actions. If you right click on a user in a post or comment, diediedead's context menu will have an entry Filter for user <username>. If you highlight text, and activate diediedead's context menu, the entry will show Filter for text <selected text>. Right clicking on a link will show Filter for site <base URL of site>. All filters will be added to the main configuration dialog box.

Context menus clicks are typically faster and more accurate than manual entry via the configure dialog. However, filters can only be edited or deleted via the configuration dialog box.

Because the entry fields on the configuration dialog box are HTML textareas, you can use the standard editing command Ctrl-Z to undo any changes to any of the three fields before saving. Ctrl-Shift-Z will redo any undo made before saving, as well.

User feedback on diediedead's context menu indicates it does not work properly with TamperMonkey and the Chrome browser, crippling its usability on that platform. This issue will be addressed by a native Chrome extension, available in the next 2-4 weeks.