Has Meebo invaded a website you use?

[Evo]

I use an older browser because it does what I want. It does not like Meebo, which is being added to more and more websites. Just rolling over the meebo bar shuts down my browser, so I don't even have the option of "hiding" it.

In looking for a solution, I found this article. Seems like I'm not the only unhappy Meebo victim. It appears that letting the offending website know that you object to this advertising tactic may be the only way to curtail this additional invasion of privacy. Anyone had any success disabling Meebo without downloading more software as is suggested by the article? The article has some tongue in cheek humor and language, so be advised.

How To Kill That Awful Meebo Bar Forever (Updated)

Have you noticed Meebo, that annoying bar on the bottom of some websites like Boston.com's Big Picture, Men's Fitness, and TVGuide.com? Of course you have. It spits up ads and nags you to share stuff on Facebook while you're just trying to read. It's a website add-on increasingly used by publishers who hate their readers.

Continued...

http://gizmodo.com/5904690/how-to-kill-that-awful-meebo-bar-forever

 

[Andre]

Thanks for the heads up Evo, haven't seen it yet, but I'll keep an eye open.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I don't have the problem you do, I can click it away. I didn't even know it had a name until now. I just considered it one more ad I have to click away in order to read the page I asked for. I don't really think I'm getting a subliminal message from the associated ad, but if I am, I'm associating the product with something odious am I not?

 

[jtbell]

I use Firefox with Ghostery. I just tried visiting tvguide.com, and Ghostery's popup status indicator showed that it was blocking the Meebo Bar among a bunch of other things.

[added] Now I see that the article Evo linked to, describes Ghostery as a solution.

So far the only problem I've had with Ghostery is that my bank's website didn't let me log in (couldn't even get to the login page) until I told Ghostery to disable blocking while visiting that site.

 

[Evo]

I use Firefox with Ghostery. I just tried visiting tvguide.com, and Ghostery's popup status indicator showed that it was blocking the Meebo Bar among a bunch of other things.

Do you think Ghostery will conflict with my beloved IE7? I wouldn't be so upset if I could just close it when I visit the website, but it completely shuts down all open browser windows, so it's more than a nuisance.

 

[jtbell]

I don't know about IE7, I'm a Mac guy.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Egads. I just added ghostery to chrome and now pages load in a fraction of the time they used to. I owe you one.

 

[dlgoff]

I use Firefox with Ghostery.

So ghostery does the same thing as Firefox's "Content" (pop-up, images, JavaScript) and "Privacy" (cookie blocking) setting but more efficiently?

 

[Drakkith]

I enjoy Firefox with "NoScript". That addon puts everything on lockdown. (Blocks it from running/downloading) It's only downside is that it puts EVERYTHING on lockdown! So when you first start to use it you have to right click the page and allow things. But I am 100% ok with that. I get 0 popups or anything like that when using it unless I specifically allow it.

 

[Evo]

Ghostery appears to be different.

Ghostery™ sees the invisible web - tags, web bugs, pixels and beacons. Ghostery tracks the trackers and gives you a roll-call of the ad networks, behavioral data providers, web publishers, and other companies interested in your activity.

After showing you who's tracking you, Ghostery™ also gives you a chance to learn more about each company it identifies. How they describe themselves, a link to their privacy policies, and a sampling of pages where we've found them are just a click away.

Ghostery is your window into the invisible web – tags, web bugs, pixels and beacons that are included on web pages in order to get an idea of your online behavior.

Ghostery tracks over 1,000 trackers and gives you a roll-call of the ad networks, behavioral data providers, web publishers, and other companies interested in your activity.

http://www.ghostery.com/about

But the thread is about what Meebo is doing.

 

[Jack21222]

Egads. I just added ghostery to chrome and now pages load in a fraction of the time they used to. I owe you one.

Ghostery is what caused me to switch to Chrome. It slowed down Firefox for me; pages took forever to load. I switched to Chrome, and it no longer is a problem.

I'm glad I've never seen this Meebo bar. The thing I hate most about facebook is that it's everywhere, telling me to like something or share something. I don't even have a facebook! If I don't have something, I don't want it popping up in my face all the time, or tracking me for ad revenue. That's why I got ghostery in the first place. For the times ghostery doesn't work, I have adblockplus, and I just block every facebook logo that makes it through. It's quite nice. Anyway, that's why I'm glad ghostery blocks this Meebo bar. It's just another instance of facebook visual assault that I don't have to deal with.

 

[AlephZero]

But the thread is about what Meebo is doing.

Some good news and some bad news.

1. Meebo was recently bought by Google.
2. A week later, most of Meebo's products were discontinued.
3. Except for the Meebo bar.

 

[Borg]

I enjoy Firefox with "NoScript". That addon puts everything on lockdown. (Blocks it from running/downloading) It's only downside is that it puts EVERYTHING on lockdown! So when you first start to use it you have to right click the page and allow things. But I am 100% ok with that. I get 0 popups or anything like that when using it unless I specifically allow it.

Same here. I also have my computer set up to block advertisement sites so I don't even see the ads (it doesn't involve loading any software). I tried a page reported to have Meebo (sfgate.com) and it doesn't come up on my browser.

 

[DragonPetter]

Some good news and some bad news.

1. Meebo was recently bought by Google.
2. A week later, most of Meebo's products were discontinued.
3. Except for the Meebo bar.

That is a shame. Meebo was great for talking to friends on messengers from web browser.

 

[Evo]

That is a shame. Meebo was great for talking to friends on messengers from web browser.

That's what I used it for when it was still in BETA. Another sell out.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

That is a shame. Meebo was great for talking to friends on messengers from web browser.

I'm sure google has plans for this or do you think they bought it to dump the competition?

 

[Evo]

Ghostery is awesome! Not only has it now blocked the meebo bar, everything loads twice as fast because it has also blocked the Facebook, twitter, reddit, etc... links that I would have to sit and wait to download on most sites I use. It use to infuriate me waiting for these stupid links that I will never use. No, I don't want to link this or like it on facebook. No, I don't want to twitter about it. AAARRGH.

I think my blood pressure dropped several points since I added Ghostery.

 

[DragonPetter]

No, I don't want to link this or like it on facebook. No, I don't want to twitter about it. AAARRGH.

I hate that so much. I consider it an invasion of privacy that facebook and others try to integrate themselves into everything I use outside of facebook. The little bit of convenience it might offer some happens to be intrusive to the rest.

 

[dlgoff]

Ghostery is awesome!

I was curious and clicked on the Ghostery download button thinking it would download an installer. But no. It tried to install itself directly. But Firefox blocked it. Goood boy.

 

[Jack21222]

I wonder what Greg thinks about us using Ghostery on his site. We're blocking his ContextWeb, Google Analytics, and VigLink.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Of course I am against it :)

 

[Evo]

Obviously you disable it for PF!

 

[Evo]

I was curious and clicked on the Ghostery download button thinking it would download an installer. But no. It tried to install itself directly. But Firefox blocked it. Goood boy.

To be fair, it does say "download now". Get ghostery, it's great.

What I do find rather hypocritical is that they have "Follow us on twitter" and "Like us on Facebook" posted.