Bensonmum

stable version 3.1 - JS-Kit/Echo edition

changes in 3.1 (reinstall to update, or go to this link )

• Totally rewritten for JS-Kit's Echo. Only been tested at Eschaton so far, but that's where it was needed.
• Bensonmum for JS-Kit Echo is a little more sophisticated. It now checks not only for Gravatars, but for any Authentication mode that one might use in JS-Kit - eg Open-ID, Blogger, Twitter, etc. The idea is, if someone is authenticated they are probably not a troll - or if they are, they become easy to block.
• Also, the Hide/Show functions are now global and automatic. You may recall in vers 2 that HIDE only hid the one post, and you had to refresh to hide the rest (or SHOW). But Echo takes too long to refresh, so I added some FortyToo magic. Hide one post, all posts by that commenter go away (you may be scrolled off the place you were reading). Show one, and they all appear.
  • Bensonmum turns off when you post a new comment. It's sort of the same reason you don't see other new comments until you refresh. So after you post, hit F5 to get all the new comments and turn bensonmum back on. I always do that anyway as soon as my post goes through.
  • The one piece I don't have yet is the bottom tag to let you clear your Chosen/Damned lists, or to change the default method of hiding posters without authentication. But it' coming.
  • Bensonmum 3.1 requires Firefox 3.x

  stable version 2.2 - Borg and Dialup edition

  changes in 2.2 (reinstall to update)

  • New option after Clear Lists: What to do with NoGrav posts. This is so that if Grav's are blocked by the borg or turned off because of dialup speed, you can change the default behavior to show those posts. Then add any trolls to the 'Damned' list. It doesn't affect commenters already in one of the lists.

  stable version 2.1

  changes in 2.1 (reinstall to update)

  • Whitelist/Blacklist has been changed to Chosen/Damned. Thanks, Chicago Dyke, for the suggestion.
  • Clear list bug has been fixed - previously, clearing a list would open a second comments window

  I've got to break this page up into sections and write some better doc.

  Bensonmum is a Greasemonkey script based on the "killfile" idea. Initially, it hides Haloscan comments that do not have a Gravatar attached. Rather than show the comment, only the signature line is shown. At the end of the line is the word "view." Move your mouse over the word to show the hidden comment, move it off to hide it again.

  To unblock a poster, click on the word "view" while the comment is displayed. This will prevent the comment from disappearing when you move the mouse off, and also add the poster to your "Chosen" - next time you refresh, all comments by that poste will be shown

  To block a poster that has a gravatar (or one you have previously added to the Chosen list) click "hide" at the end of one of his posts. This will hide that specific post, and also add him to the "Damned" - when you refresh all the comment by that poster will be hidden.

  Right above the Haloscan Comment box are three links - "Bensonmum" brings you to this page. "Chosen" clears your Chosen list (all comments without gravatars will be hidden). "Damned" clears your damned list (all comments that have gravatars or are in your chosen list will be shown.) I'm not sure how many entries will cause Bensonmum to slow down, this gives you a way to start over without uninstalling and reinstalling.

  Install

  To install Bensonmum, click here You must be using FireFox (for now) and have Greasemonkey installed.

  JP has put up a FAQ that explains it in more simple terms than I could.

  Bensonmum is NOT compatible with Killfile. Either disable Killfile (from the Greasemonkey menu under tools) or, if you want Killfile to run on other (non haloscan) sites, go to the Greasemonkey "Manage Scripts" page; copy the URL from Bensonmum's @include side to Killfile's @exclude side. Also, Bensonmum is initially configured to run only on Eschaton. If you want to use it on other haloscan sites, edit the @include to read http://www.haloscan.com/comments/*

  What is different about Bensonmum

  Why not just use killfile? Well, aside from the view/hide capability, Bensonmum can get around namestealers and nameshifters. It keys on two things: the poster's Name and the poster's Email address (as entered in Haloscan's comment box.)

  The name is only used if there is no email address entered, so in that case it works sort of like Killfile, except that no email means no Gravatar. So the default setting is that if there is no Grav, the poster is hidden unless you unblock that name. That keeps people from getting around blockage by changing one letter of their nyms.

  An email can be entered by a poster whether or not he has a Gravatar. If he doesn't, he'll still be automatically hidden by default. But, even without a gravatar, he CAN fill something in the email address box. Doesn't even have to be a real email address - just one that only he knows. Bensonmum doesn't read the email, it reads a unique number (created by Gravatar) that represents that email. The end result is that if one of your friends puts an address in the email field and you "Chose" him, it will NOT also chose namestealers. Bensonmum always looks for the email first, if it is there that's what goes in the chosen list. Just tell your friends to put something in there - it's like a password.

  Hopefully, this system will allow any poster to have his say, and give everyone else a finer control over whether to listen.

  --dirk gently, sociopathetic