Hack: Mass Delete Tool For Friends (And Foes?)

(Hat tip: Dean aka The Dude of Orkut)

Update (7/9): Corrected original authorship of script hack.

Here is a useful tool originally developed by Rodrigo (and partially translated into English by Sharath) that gives users the option of removing testimonials, messages, topics and even friends en mass.

Here is a brief explanation over at Technowise.

(Technowise) Now deleting anything from orkut is a lot more easier with the Mass Delete Tool!
This tool is for mass deleting messages, topics, events, friends and testimonials. It will be very useful for all orkut users, especially the community owners and moderators. The orkut interface only provides multiple selection and deletion of scraps, and this tool provides options for everything else!

In order to use this hack, users will need to install Firefox as well as GreaseMonkey, and for the visually stimulated (that includes me) here are some quick screen shots on how useful this hack may be for some users.

1. After installing GreaseMonkey, search for the OMDT link.





2. Clicking on it will open a new mini window which allows you to adjust how fast you want the deleted friends, testimonials, etc. to take place.





3. Next, select Yes to turn on the script (other wise it will not work).





4. The options below simply ask if you want to be alerted on your homepage. Simply click yes on both items.





5. After you are done, click OK. A pop up should appear asking you to verify whether you want to turn this on or not. Simply hit Ok again to let the fun begin.





6. Next, select the friends that you want to remove. If you want to remove all of them, you can always hit the all link as shown below.





7. Next, hit the Delete Selected link to remove your various friends. Just in case you change your mind there is an Interruption link (not shown here) which you can always click on to halt the process.





8. Last but not least, a pop up window should appear, letting you know not only how many friends were deleted, but how long the process took.

This is a really helpful tool (at least for me) and probably is something Google should consider adding as a feature in the Friend Section. Users can download this GreaseMonkey hack over here, and this tool will definitely go underneath Orkut User Tools.

If anyone has any questions regarding this hack, please visit Sharath's post on TechnoWise Rodrigo Lacerda scrapbook as the community forum seems to have been deleted.

Update (7/9): Thanks to Mr. Nobody and Sharath for confirming Rodrigo as the original author. Props to both of you guys!

Sify To Shiv Sena: No Orkut Block For You!

Now I know that this news article was published earlier this month (which is like an eternity in "internet years") but I felt that with political pressure being brought on the Indian government to censor Orkut, government officials will take notice and follow the example of Sify, an internet service provider (or ISP).

(Mumbai Mirror Online) Internet Service Provider (ISP) Sify has refused to bow to the Shiv Sena's demand to block Orkut.com, saying the social networking website is the 'most popular' among the youth. Sify is the biggest ISP in Mumbai. It has 400 (I-way) franchisees in the city. In addition to that, over 1,000 cyber cafes use its services to provide Internet access to their customers. [...]

"Blocking a site is not at all possible and reasonable [from the moral point of view]. If someone is upset with the contents, they can take up their grievances directly with the [people who operate the] site," Pasha said. He also made it clear that cyber café owners do not have the technology to block a website; only an ISP can do it.

I am glad that companies like Sify exist, as there are already too many governments on our planet trying to play big brother for their populations. Although many people may be upset about the offending forums on Orkut (as there are several out there that I personally find offensive) I think censorship is the wrong avenue to take.

Ignoring "hate groups" is far more effective than banning the entire site, as doing so will only result in these offense groups finding another medium to communicate through. Unless hate groups become violent, the government should allow them to speak but use them as examples of backwards thinking in a modern day world.

Freedom of speech means freedom for everyone, and it should only be restricted when such speech causes false alarm or endangers people (like yelling "fire" in a movie theater or screaming "bomb" in an airport).

After all, if freedom is denied to one group, then what prevents that same freedom being denied to you in the future?

Stolen Orkut Forums, And Ways To Get Them Back

Note: Thanks to Ajay Choudhary for reminding me to post this.



So lets say you started a forum on Orkut, and to your surprise, many people are not only joining your community, but inviting their friends as well. Your forum blossoms into the thousands, which you continue to monitor and promote.

Then one day to your horror, you discover that somehow someone else has taken over your forum. What do you do?

There are two methods that of securing your Orkut forum (actually there are three but the third involves hacking which I WILL NOT discuss here, so don't ask). I have witnessed others using both of these, and I suggest users give them a try to see whether or not they are effective.

<-----------------Method One----------------->

Since everyone loves stories (at least I do which is why I like movies) I'll retell this event that I saw online. Note: Names have been changed in order to protect the innocent guilty those involved.

<---Story Time!--->

A girl names Shekut started a community called The Fun Forum (not its real name, but you get the idea). Shekut ran the forum for awhile, but the community grew too large for her to manage.

She then passed on Admin powers to Hekut, who took over The Fun Forum, while Shekut retreated back to the real world as Orkut was taking up way too much time.

Later on when Shekut returned to her community, she discovered it in the hands of Hackut. Now Hackut had through "brute force" acquired the forum from Hekut, claiming he was saving it from deletion by Hekut.

Hekut disagreed and claimed that Hackut was a liar (as well as a loser) and decided with the help of several friends to use their hacking powers to reclaim the forum by force. Unfortunately Google was in another round of purging hackers from Orkut, and Hekut and his gang were booted from the system.

Shekut and other members of the forum were upset about this, and tried to appeal to Google for help. Unfortunately since Shekut originally gave the forum away to Hekut (who was now banned), Hackut's authority of the forum ran unchallenged.

Darkut (that would be me) was contacted regarding this situation, but since Darkut did not work for Google, there was nothing Darkut could do legally.

Shekut then began to contact members of The Fun Forum to petition Hackut to return the forum back to Shekut. Members contacted Hackut through his scrapbook, his email and within the forum and (to my surprise) Hackut decided to give back the forum to Shekut, resulting in much celebration within The Fun Forum.

<-----------------End of Method One----------------->

As you saw in the above example, you can sometimes reason with the person who took over the forum to return the community back. In this case, that was the only alternative Shekut had, although others have used it to retrieve stolen forums, and it the person has a kind heart this method doesn't take too long.

But lets say the person who stole the forum is Jerkut, instead of Hackut, and he doesn't care for whatever particular reason. Here is a second (and faster) way of getting your forum back.

<-----------------Method Two----------------->

If your community has been hacked, and the person who dethroned you is unwilling to give it back, here are some necessary steps that should help speed up the process of reclaiming your forum.

1. Contact Google: You need to alert Google about this situation, by contacting them over here.
   
   Make sure you include as much information as possible, such as the date you started (or began administrating) the forum, the date you think it was stolen from you, and what the forum description was about.



2. Contact Forum Members: Send them an email asking them to report the illegal take over as well (with the same amount of detail mentioned above).
   
   DO NOT scrap all of your friends regarding this (as that would alert the thief) and do not ask your Orkut friends to report this on your behalf, unless they are members of the forum (as Google is more likely to believe a member than an outsider).



3. Be patient: Google employees (to my knowledge) do not spend all of their time reading trouble tickets. Most engineers (if not all) spend a large portion of their time making their pet projects better, of which the same holds true for Orkut.
   
   The good news is that if you are able to contact a Google employee fairly quickly, they will have the ability to help you out with your problem and understand your dilemma. The bad news is that due to the number of trouble tickets that they receive, you will probably not get a response back unless they need more info.


4. Secure Thy Internet: After getting back your forum (although I would recommend doing this while waiting) you should change your password on your Google account, not to mention delete any cookies, temporary internet files and cache.
   
   Also I would recommend finding a secure browser such as Opera, Firefox or Internet Explorer with security extentions.

According to Orkut Guide, (a Googler on the Orkut Help google group) Google is in the process of setting up a special forum for stolen communities.

Until then, I would recommend the methods above, as they will help "speed up" the process towards you reclaiming your forums.

Note: If anyone else has any other suggestions, feel free to post them below.

Has Google's Orkut Security Been Hacked?

Just when I was about to write a "How to get your forum back if its hacked," post, my inbox and scrapbook have been receiving attention over what seems to be the massive deletion of many forums on Orkut.

This has led many people to suspect that Orkut security has been compromised by a hacker, who seems to have stolen Google Admin powers and is deleting forums (and profiles) at random.

While there are users who have been able to steal forums away from members via hacking, I am having serious doubts as to whether or not Orkut as a whole has been compromised.

Many of the forums that are disappearing seem to be what some consider to be "hate sites." Although in America hate sites are pretty much ignored (and laughed at) by society, some nations seem to have laws against them existing, and go at great lengths to silence them.

Although it is possible that a hacker could have accessed Google's admin controls via internet cookies, a more reasonable explanation seems to be that Google may have given India police "too much authority" and it is quite possible that an officer is abusing their authority online.

(Boing Boing) The Indian Express and other regional media are reporting that Google's social networking service Orkut will cooperate with the Mumbai Police to share IP addresses of users who post "objectionable content" on Orkut. If reports are to be believed, the police need only email a complaint to Orkut, and Orkut will send back the personally identifying data, no questions asked.

The police are said to be targeting a number of "problematic" Orkut posts, including items that criticize various public figures in India, others that glorify Indian mobsters, and "anti-Indian words." The latter probably has to do with a group on Orkut called "I Hate India," which pissed off Indian officials so much, they decided to sue Google over it last October.

This seems very similar to Google's agreement with Brazil, and I suspect that Indian users are facing something similar. Of course, this doesn't mean that a hacker could not have stolen "admin powers" from a Googler (or even an Indian police officer which would be just as bad IMHO) although I think I still need to see more evidence before assuming Google's security on Orkut has been compromised.

Note: If you do have any evidence, please alert Google about this immediately, or if you are uncomfortable with contacting Google (for whatever reason) you can send me a testimonial (which won't be published) and I'll pass on word to Google anonymously.