lq2-apostrophe / facebook-url-fix

Chrome extension to shorten Facebook URLs to reduce tracking and unresponsive situations.

Facebook URL fix

This is a Google Chrome extension which shortens Facebook URLs to reduce tracking and unresponsive situations.

Author: LQ2' (Website | GitHub)

Based on Query stripper by Rudie Dirkx.

Thanks Custom Icon Design for the wrench icon used in the icon of this extension.

Note

A new extension focusing on fixing Facebook URLs (like this) is being written, with a completely different mechanism. New updates to Facebook URL fix will not change the main mechanism derived from Query stripper.

Features

• Removes unnecessary query parameters from Facebook URLs
• Shortens album ID containing a.<something> in query parameter set in legacy album links
• Enters external links directly. (Facebook's reference tracking is skipped.)
• Directly enters a single post in a group from a notification about the post.

Removed feature

• Changes modern photo links into legacy links

To do

• [Major feature] Actively shorten and remove unnecessary things in <a> tags in the page. This feature will be implemented in the new extension!
• [Bugfix] Tab content is not updated when external links are in fact inside Facebook network (e.g. *.facebook.com).

Installation

1. Download the ZIP file of the latest release of this extension.
2. Extract the file into a folder.
3. Open Chrome and turn on its Developer mode.
4. Click Load unpacked extension and select the folder containing this extension.

How does this extension work?

1. Removing unnecessary query parameters from Facebook URLs

For example, this URL points to a page that shows a reply to a comment on a post:

https://www.facebook.com/<somebody>/posts/<post_id>?ref=notif&notif_t=like&notif_id=<notif_id>&comment_id=<comment_id>&reply_comment_id=<reply_comment_id>

Unneeded query parameters: ref, notif_t, notif_id

New URL:

https://www.facebook.com/<somebody>/posts/<post_id>?comment_id=<comment_id>&reply_comment_id=<reply_comment_id>

2. Shortening album ID containing a.<something> in query parameter set in legacy album links

(Available since version 1.1)

Here is a legacy link to a photo album:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.<minimal_numeric_part>.<extra_numeric_part_1>.<extra_numeric_part_2>

This will be changed into:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.<minimal_numeric_part>

3. Entering external links directly

(Available since version 1.2)

Here is a redirection link to an external site:

http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2F&h=<some code>

The external link is extracted and entered.

http://example.com/

4. Directly entering a single post in a group from a notification about the post

(Available since version 1.5)

A link to the post points to a page containing not only the post, but also other posts in the same group.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/<group_name_or_id>/?multi_permalinks=<single_post_id>

The page can cause additional, unnecessary load. A Facebook user has already got a choice to view all posts in the group by clicking Discussion.

The following link is much straighter.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/<group_name_or_id>/permalink/<single_post_id>

Notes:

• The user will not see pinned post in the group until he/she clicks Discussion.
• Notifications about multiple posts in a group are safely bypassed by this feature.

Version history

1.6

• Skipped redirection for "quick" special posts. Therefore, there is no need to remove qp_instance_log_data parameters anymore.
• Logs now contain both original and new (stripped) links.
• Updated more useless parameters.

1.5.2

• Updated useless parameters, especially qp_instance_log_data parameters in links of "quick" special posts from Facebook official apps.
• Removed type from useless list as now it is needed in photo links. (Theater view for photos is now enforced further by Facebook.)

1.5.1

Fix: Properly exclude multi_permalinks containing multiple post IDs.

1.5

• Updated useless parameters.
• New feature: Directly entering a single post in a group from a notification about the post.

1.4.1

• Added two useless query parameters: qsefr and lst
• Query parameter notif_id is now excluded for a special notification about the engagement of recent posts by current user.
• Fix for links of albums contributed by more than one person.

1.4

• Added support for all possible protocols that Facebook works on.
• Added support for http(s)://facebook.com links.

1.3.1

• Added __mref to the list of completely useless query parameters.
• Query parameter type is now excluded in default album for videos in profiles. (set=vb.<numeric_part>)

1.3

• Feature removed because of various bugs: Changing modern photo links to legacy ones.
• Updated more unneeded query parameters.
• Now some parameters are only removed at some links in order to prevent some unresponsive situations.
• Update to feature of entering external links directly: Redirection subdomains has been extended.

1.2

• New feature: Entering external links directly (skipping Facebook's warning and reference tracking).
• Updated more unneeded query parameters.
• Query parameter app_id is now excluded at Facebook Live dialogs.

1.1.1

• Updated more unneeded query parameters.
• Query parameter type is now excluded at Page's Notifications tab for access to Mentions and Shares. (Only people working on Pages can see.)
• Query parameter id is now excluded at Help Community for access to questions.

1.1

• Less code for existing features.
• More unneeded query parameters are added. Some of them are still necessary in some links; when these links are entered, they are properly excluded by this extension.
• New feature: Shortening album ID containing a.<something> in query parameter set in legacy album links

1.0

First release