This helpful post is for you, my Livejournaler friends!

[foxfirefey]

ETA: Did you know I am a ditz? It is true! I had you setting the wrong value for the opt-out, it should be 1 and not 0

Comments

[clair_de_lune]

Hi! Here via lj-releases.

First, thank you for your post. LJ has been slower to react when I click links since yesterday. I guess I know why, now.

Second, sorry to be a bother, but may I ask you a couple of questions?

1/ Does opting out using the admin console block anything else or just that script?
2/ If I ever need/want to, how do I cancel the opt-out?

In any case, thanks for your time :)

[foxfirefey]

No worries! I am happy to assist.

1. Apparently, if you're not a Paid user, there's an tracking script for advertising from Media 6 Degrees that also stops appearing with this opt out. But, that's nothing you need to worry about, either.

2. To turn it back on, go to the console and use the command: set opt_exclude_stats 0

Also note: The most likely historical reason this opt-out works is likely coincidental, not purposeful, and as such, it might not work someday. It probably wouldn't be worth LJ's time to remove it, but I can't say for sure. If that happens, you'll have to learn other ways to block the script to get it to stop running again.

Also note I am a ditz and mixed up the values originally--1 sets the opt out, 0 sets it back on.

[clair_de_lune]

I had a hunch it was a mere coincidence, but at least, it helps for now. I'll see what I do if it stops working.

Thanks a lot again for the explanations. I really appreciate the help :)

[foxfirefey]

By coincidence I mean: this opt out came around when LJ added Hitbox statistics to all LiveJournal pages. This being LJ, people were upset, and LJ made an opt out for those people. I don't think LJ uses Hitbox anymore, but the "hook" in the code that put the Hitbox code onto the site was also the easiest way to put other scripts like this Driving Revenue one onto all site pages, as well. Since that hook obeys the opt_out, so do these current scripts. So, LJ probably didn't mean for this script to have an opt out, but due to how it got implemented, there is one!

[j_s_cavalcante]

Thank you!

[china_shop]

Thanks for this. I'm not too worried about this, really, but I may as well switch it off if I can. :-)

[foxfirefey]

I feel like paid users shouldn't have to deal with this script anyway--they're already paying for their service.

[sageness]

Hi, thanks for this! I have a question. Can I apply this to the communities I mod? There's no "work as user" pull-down menu on the Admin Console page, so I wondered if there was a different way to activate it.

[foxfirefey]

Well, there's:

set for communityname opt_exclude_stats 1

But, to be honest, I don't know what effect it would have.

[sageness]

hmmmm...didn't work.

"This command takes either two or four arguments. Consult the reference."

But good thought!

[foxfirefey]

I didn't really expect it to; the opt-out is for viewers, not journals. A community can't view journals, so even if the opt-out could be set, it'd be useless.

I mean, I imagine you're using the opt out, but if I view your journal logged out or not using the opt out, I'll still have the redirect script load.

[carnifinda]

Thank you so much for this! This script was really bothering me, I had to click on links three or four times for them to work, all because of that "outboundlink.net" thing, and even though I'm a paid used. Now it's perfect, thanks to you :)