Is your computer a zombie? We can help.

For all you facebookers out there, I’ve done a little digging, and the facebook dislike button is a hoax. I have some evidence to back this up, so please don’t disregard me as a naysayer right off the bat. If you’ve been on FB recently, you may have noticed a sudden drive for a “dislike” button to compliment its more optimistic cousin. Names like “DISLIKE BUTTON…NEED 7,000,000 MEMBERS INVITE EVERYONE YOU KNOW ASAP” and “PETITION FOR FACEBOOK TO INSTALL A DISLIKE BUTTON Need 3 mill. members! Send a suggestion for a dislike button to Facebook DIRECTLY! ” have been plaguing my inbox for a bit. Based on the promise of something from facebook itself by simply reaching a certain number of members instantly set of alarm bells in my head. Features like this are usually submitted, researched, checked for security exploits, and then released over the course of several weeks. I do admit that getting millions of users into a group might show facebook that people really want this thing, and I don’t deny that. What I do deny is the people who say that it’s already been released.

[EDIT: The facebook dislike button application turns your language to Italian! Watch out!]

Anyway, I thought I might poke around into these groups and see if I could actually get this thing to reveal whatever secret it held. My results:

Here is what the facebook pages often say to do:

NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT DO EACH STEP CORRECTLY, THIS WILL NOT WORK.
Step 1: Follow dislike button on twitter (it won’t work without it) http://twitter.com/guinnessrecord
Step 2: Click invite people to join!
Step 3: While you have the invitation page up, copy and Paste this script into your address bar EXACTLY AS IT IS and hit enter:

javascript:var numfriends=document.getElementById(’friends’).getElementsByTagName(’li’).length;
fs.click(document.getElementById(’friends’).getElementsByTagName(’a')[1].parentNode);
for(var i=0; i < numfriends; i++){
fs.click(document.getElementById(’friends’).getElementsByTagName(’a')[i].parentNode);
}

Step 4: Confirm invitations sent.
Step 5: To finally get the dislike button you must then click here- http://tinyurl.com/fbdislikebutton If that link doesn’t work, make sure you thoroughly completed steps 1-4-5.
HINT: If it didn’t work. You didn’t do it right; repeat steps 1-4.

Step by step now:

Step One: “Follow dislike button on twitter (it won’t work without it) http://twitter.com/guinnessrecord”

There is no way that this will do anything to Facebook. Notice that their twitter username is “guinnessrecord”. I suspect that they’re just trying to gain a bunch of people to get “most twitter members” or something like that.

Step Two: “Click invite people to join!”

Inviting people to join the group is a great way to get the group more members, but not much else.

Step Three: “While you have the invitation page up, copy and Paste this script into your address bar EXACTLY AS IT IS and hit enter:” and then some JS code

This javascript does not add a dislike button. If you read through it, what it does is select everyone in that invite box (the one that you just opened). This means that your invite will be sent to everyone in your invite list. The code does not do anything else. It’s just an easy way for them to get more followers while having people who can’t read code be fooled into thinking that the code is adding the button.

Step Four: Confirm invitations sent

A.K.A. Make sure you’ve spammed all your friends

Step Five: To finally get the dislike button you must then click here- http://tinyurl.com/fbdislikebutton If that link doesn’t work, make sure you thoroughly completed steps 1-4-5.

That tinurl leads you back to the facebook homepage. Nothing else.

Final Word:

Don’t believe this hoax – quit the group, tell your friends in a non-invasive manner. This kind of thing is a great information harvesting project, and one of the most successful so far. If you follow through, they have your twitter username. If they tell you to add an app, then they have your facebook username too (and they’re allowed to read all of your info and post on your wall). Then they have you tell your friends about it before you see the product.

I don’t blame anyone if they fell for this – it’s a clever hoax and a smart bit of code. If you can’t live without a dislike button, there’s a firefox plugin available that does this in a secure way.

–Erty Seidel