I had to preemptively block a Facebook user…

 

Why I needed to block this user is neither here nor there, but when I tried to figure out how to do it, I couldn’t find an answer anywhere. I knew I could block a user who had already liked or commented on the page, but I had no idea how to block a user who had never before interacted with the page.

At first, I thought it couldn’t be done. But I figured I’d ask around & see if I’d be surprised. A few friends (namely Shannan Boyer and Christiaan Todd) pointed me to a Facebook Note that claimed to offer a fix to this problem. I was ecstatic until I tried the process detailed in the note.

It almost worked.

The problem was, the fix as it was written had worked when the note was originally published, back in early 2011, but Facebook had changed the code since, which broke the fix. I spent a little time kicking the fix around & eventually figured out how to preemptively ban users permanently.

My solution, your solution. Here goes:

First step: Open Google Chrome.

(Note: This step is the easiest of all 10 steps.)

Second Step: Find the Facebook ID number of the person you want to block.

You can find this by going to their Facebook page and looking at the address bar for the url of their page. It should look something like this: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000464329296 (The Facebook url you see listed here is mine; feel free to stop by and say hi.)

There is a caveat: if the user you are trying to block has created a vanity url to replace their assigned url – that is, if they have a url like www.facebook.com/johndoe instead of a url that ends in a string of numbers – you’re going to have to do a few more steps, namely: go to the facebook profile of the person you want to block. Click on their “Photos” section. Click on one of their photo albums. Now, as you’re looking at one of their albums, look up in the address bar. You’ll see something like this: htts://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.162707780421365.39001.100000464329296&type=3 (Again, this link is to my Facebook account, to my profile picture album. Looking good, eh?) The last string of numbers between the “.” and the “&” is the Facebook user id. So in this example, the user id is 100000464329296.

Third Step: Go to your Facebook Page.

Toward the leftermost, top part of your page,  you’ll see an area titled “New Likes”. To the right of the title you’ll see a link called”See All”. Right click on this link and open it as a new tab. It has to be a new tab & this process will not work if you just click on the link. (If you know your business page’s id, there’s a quicker way. Type “https://www.facebook.com/browse/page_fans/?page_id=” in the address bar of a new tab. Stick your business page id after the equals sign, click the enter key,  & PRESTO CHANGO you’re there.)

Fourth Step: Select a “Remove” Button.

You’ll see a list of all the people who like your page. To the right of each user’s profile picture and name, there’s a “X”. Right click on one of these Xs and select “Inspect Element” from the drop down menu.

Fifth Step: Find the Applicable code.

At the bottom of the page, you will see a block of text highlighted (in blue) that looks something like this:

<input type=”hidden” autocomplete=”off” name=”page_id” value=”000000000000″>

<input type=”hidden” autocomplete=”off” name=”user_id” value=”100000464329296″>

<input type=”hidden” autocomplete=”off” name=”act” value=”remove”>

<label for=”uewexf_11″><input title=”Remove” type=”submit” id=”uewexf_11″></label>

<input title=”Remove” type=”submit” id=”uewexf_11″>

Sixth Step: Prepare to edit code.

Right click on the <input type=”hidden” autocomplete=”off” name=”user_id” value=”100000464329296″> line, and select “Edit as HTML” option.

Seventh Step: Edit code.

Take the Facebook user id number that you got in step one, and replace the number after ”user_id” value=” in the code.

Eighth Step: Save Changes.

Click somewhere outside of the editable zone to save your change, but do not close the “Inspect Element” window.

Ninth Step: Make with the clicky.

Go back to the “People Who Like This Page”  segment of your open page and find the same “X” you right clicked on in step 3. Remember: it has to be the same “X”; if you click on a different “X”, one of your kind and trusting fans will be unceremoniously blocked from your page, and you’ll be a no-good-nik.

Tenth Step: Remove offensive person.

A window will pop up, asking you if you’re sure that you want to remove the person you’re trying to remove from your page. (Of course you’re sure, otherwise you wouldn’t go to such lengths to get this far in the first place, but it’s still nice that Facebook asks.) Make sure you check the “Ban Permanently” box at the left of the window. Then hit “Okay”.

 

CONGRATULATIONS, YOU’VE DONE IT! (If you haven’t done it, go ahead and leave a message for me in the comments below & I’ll be happy to try and help you out.)

Photo credit: Nicola since 1972

Written by Joe Robb