As those of you paying attention may recall, I am no fan of FaceBook, but I have found that, using the GreaseMonkey script "FaceBook Purity", the FaceBook experience is at least tolerable as that scours out all those obnoxious FarmVille and MafiaWars (etc.) posts. As that crap was my #1 complaint about FaceBook, I was thrilled to have that over-ride installed.
One would think that something that further trimmed down the FaceBook irritations would be equally welcome. However, today I encountered info about another GreaseMoneky script, called "FaceBook Cleaner" which supposedly also blocks the ads (which have been, generally speaking, "scammy" stuff), leaving an empty space where they would normally feed in.
This, however, hit an "ethical wall" in my head. While getting rid of the games was fine and dandy, this felt "like cheating" as it would be interfering (to whatever minuscule extent) with FaceBook's legitimate ability to monetize their service, a service that I was using for free. As seeing the ads was, in essence, my "price of admission", on a personal morality level blocking the ads would be the equivalent of, say, sneaking in the side door (as if that was still a possibility) to a movie theater to catch a show without paying for a ticket.
I am somewhat bemused at how clearly I experienced that "You'd be doing something WRONG!" gut feeling over this, especially in a world where stealing content is the norm.
How did things get this twisted?
