GM Script: Flickr Buddy Icon Reply

Many of my friends have asked and learnt how to do the Buddy Icon replies (original concept by and many thanks to moriza), in the old semi-automated way. I finally tried to grease the monkey properly late last night very early this morning and managed to automate this process (^_^)

You need to be using Firefox with Greasemonkey extension installed. Then simply click onto the link to my script below and Greasemonkey with prompt you to install,
GM Script: Flickr Buddy Icon Reply

It adds an icon_reply link at each of the comments under your photo (highlighted above on the left hand side). When you click on the link, the buddy icon html code will be added into the Add your comment box, where you can show nicely who your replies are directed at (see the result highlighted above on the right hand side). Experiment with preview and you will get the hang of formatting your replies in no time. (Should work on photo and discussion thread pages)

Thought the risk is minimal, where you can just tell Greasemonkey to uninstall or disable the script if it doesn't work, I just like to put in the disclaimer that you run this script at your own risk! Always backup your system first ;) Also it might not be happy with other GM scripts that manuplate the same areas on Flickr? (tested on Mac OSX & WindowsXP using Firefox 1.5.0.7 and Greasemonkey 0.6.6.20061017.0)

this has been updated to v3. details can be found here

To take full advantage of Flickr, you should use a JavaScript-enabled browser and
install the latest version of the Macromedia Flash Player.

Comments

← prev 1 2 next →

(190 comments)

kingkong21 says:

yikes! :)
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

/ bitPic / [deleted] says:

Oh this woold be good but noOne visits Bitpic on flickr so i rarely reply.... hehehe it's all good : )
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

superlocal says:

nice! wish i was more tech savvy to install this etc.
keep up the good work!
cheers.
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

Mr.Child♫ says:

coooooooool!
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

ALFfx says:

great thx
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

hehehe I thought I would put it out there if anyone wants to use it. I guess if you already use Firefox then it is only a few clicks away, very easy. I don't think it is something people will switch to Firefox for :)
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

teabog says:

Great!! ;P
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

yay ;)
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

ffi says:

people should switch to firefox anyway :P
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

you upgraded to Firefox 2 yet? :) I can't do it yet because the Yahoo Toolbar doesn't work with it ...
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

Sibi says:

Couldn't agree more! Switch to FF to be able to install this and you will benefit from all the other FF-goodies for free :)
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

Sibi says:

nothing tech savvy about it :P
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

yay I've not blown up any browser yet :-P
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

agitprop says:

Thanks Doc! You're the greatest.
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

girl enchanted says:

Cheers!!
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

frogmuseum2 says:

Testing, testing, 1 - 2 - 3....

hehehe! Even a bozo like me can do this now! Thank you so much, doc!
:-D
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

frogmuseum2 says:

ooops. Uh, well, I gotta practice a bit more....
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

frogmuseum2 says:

Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

frogmuseum2 says:

Hmmm. Well, maybe it will work better on my own photo's then!
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

hehehe my pleasure (^_^)

practise make perfect ;)
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

birdyboo says:

Thanks! This is a neat idea.

Seen in the interestingness archives. (?)
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

Spitzgogo_CHEN (Nokia 6230i) says:

The mystery is now solved !!!
Thanks, doc :))
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

what mystery? everyone knows, all you had to do was ask ;)
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

snoopygirl says:

oh happy days!
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

ffi says:

it works! ^-^

btw your icon is so cute when it's small :D
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

hehehe no more scary instructions ;)

it is not cute when big? :( ... *joking* of course it works ;D
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

supawako says:

genious... thanks doc.
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

I didn't know you wanted to use this :-P you are welcome :)
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

supawako says:

you've just been greased. LOL... i'm always up for learning kewl new tricks.
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

LOL greased monkey :-P
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

aarthyr says:

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

birdyboo says:

I love this script.

I would like to modify it slightly by adding a space automatically after each icon but I can't see how to do that. Would you point out how that could be done? I am a miserable typist and being able to use this script will be a terrific help. The extra space would make it even better for me.

Thanks!
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

(^_^)

done. I've uploaded the updated version so you can get it from the link above ;)
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

mathteacher says:

Not at all sure what is going on! Guess you cannot teach an old dog new tricks........
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

you see the reply above your comment? you can easily add the person's icon to the replies by clicking on a link next to their comments after installing all the required softwares :) I am happy to walk you through slowly if you want and you have to be using the Firefox browser.
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

birdyboo says:

Oh dear! I wasn't clear. The new script is not behaving as I expected. I hope I can explain what seems to be happening. The cursor is placed at the beginning of the html or so it seems so that instead of neatly placing a space at the end and putting the cursor there it seems to be jumping around. I hope you can put it back the way it was. It's better to have a row of icons with no spaces between them.
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

puck90 says:

cool thanks!
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

Brenda Anderson says:

Thanks. Is there anyway you can stick the little icon at the beginning of the comment box? I'm running another script that shows the referer page, and your icon shows up at the end of that instead of at the beginning. It may be some conflict, not sure. I had to cut/paste the little icon to have it show at the beginning as it is here.

--
Seen in a discussion of Utata. (?)
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

let me look into that. I've not figured out how to do that yet

(^_^)

logically for me is to append replies to the end. I don't use the referer script, does it always add the text into the comment box regardless if you are going to comment or not? I think it should be adding the referer details after you've typed the comments?
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

Brenda Anderson says:

It sticks it in the comment box all the time, so if you don't want it, you can erase it when you make your comment. It puts it in and then puts the cursor at the very beginning of the box.
It's probably not much of an issue, because I tend to use your script only in group threads, not photo comments, but if you found a way to do it easily, that would be okay.
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

zense says:

good idea and great coming-true

--
Seen on the Web. (?)
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

snoopygirl says:

finally! I should be packing for a trip right now (eep) thanks Ray!
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

another trip already!!! :D
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

vintagediva_nat says:

YEY! - you star doc - i have always wanted to do this!

Hurrah for greasemonkey! - it's rocking my world!...
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

vintagediva_nat says:

testing testing... ^_~
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

snoopygirl says:

warning ... you are about to get a BUNCH of dolly people on here!
heh heh
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

hehehe greasymonkey :)

I noticed the specie and now I know they are called "dolly people" :-P

BTW this was recently dropped from Explore :-P
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

blurrydoll says:

This is great thanks. ^^
Thanks for the tip, I always wondered how you did that. ^___^
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

mortimer? says:

This is very good and works great with the other greasemonkey I have that modify the comment box (refer comments and quick comments).
Thank you.

--
Seen in some comments. (?)
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

you are welcome :)

some might find that annoying because the cursor is placed after the refer comments text. I have not got a good fix for that, but I am happy that it works for you :)
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

mortimer? says:

I got used to click on the top of the comment box to focus, but you are right, I should find a way to move back the cursor.

--
Seen in my recent comments. (?)
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

I have not found a way so far :( however, I do not use the refer script so naturally I carry on adding comments at the end, so that is not a problem for me.
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

mortimer? says:

Setting the message textarea selectionStart and selectionEnd properties to 0 would put the cursor at the beginning of the textarea.

You could compute the value (number of characters) to position the cursor at the end of the icon insertion.

--
Seen in my recent comments. (?)
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

girl enchanted says:

My man won't let me download firefox grrrrrr....
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

snoopygirl says:

why not?
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

cool let me check it out :) thanks

you can install firefox then change the theme to look like IE ;) does he work for microsoft or something? :-P
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

Alicia Yeah says:

Great advice, thanks! =)
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

glad to help :)
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

SteelePop [deleted] says:

This is very cool. Thanks!
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

you are welcome :)
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

mortimer? says:

It would be nice to have a button also for the author of the photo.

--
Found in a search. (?)
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

WAXY. says:

This is amazing! Thank you for your brilliance, and time!

--
Seen next to a fellow photo of Flickr Hacks. (?)
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

thank you (^_^) can keep the suggestions coming, I will try to develop this some more during the holidays
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

【 IN 】 says:

Is there any way to do this without Firefox?
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

sorry this requires a Firefox extension called Greasemonkey :(
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

tanya^^ [deleted] says:

Wow~ this is great, thanks! :)
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

(^__^)
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

KriMz says:

Thanx Doc :)
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

hey great ;)
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

mortimer? says:

Hey, I just had a new idea, it would be nice if the user we are replying to has no icon (has the ugly grey buddyicon), then the script inserts his name and not the icon.

--
Seen in a discussion of Scientist Photographers. (?)
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

ok I think the blank icons are always http://www.flickr.com/images/buddyicon.jpg so I can search for that.

I will work on the following during the holidays (1 more week to go hehehe),
1. adding username reply - it will insert the username in bold instead of the icon
2. using username reply when the user you are replying to has a generic grey buddyicon
3. calculate the cursor placement properly in the comment box to accomendate for the referrer script

thank you very much for the suggestions and keep them coming :)
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

birdyboo says:

Thank you this is the most fun and so useful too. I do like the possibility of inserting the name also. Have wonderful holidays!
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

great! happy holidays to you too :)
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

phil dev says:

Thanks . I like it!
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

thank you :)
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

Vaguely Artistic says:

HA! I was so excited to see this, and I was specifically going to credit you with showing me how to do this ages ago and I just realized it's your script :D

I stopped doing this the manual way a while back because I got too lazy. Not only does it look cool, but after going back to using the "@" symbol to address someone it actually seemed to be a much more effective attention-getting device.

Thank you so much -- Happy New Year!
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

lneogeol, censored [deleted] says:

\m/_ > . < _\m/

you rock!!
Posted 36 months ago. ( permalink )

moonlit glow says:

thank you so much for this - what a great addition to flickr!
Posted 36 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

I have updated this script to do most of the things I planned to do here. you can see the details of the update here

I am so glad that this has been useful for so many people, I hope you like the update (^_^)
Posted 36 months ago. ( permalink )

Lynt says:

For some reason Firefox handles Flickr SO slowly, it's unbareable. I can only get decent page view speeds with IE. Even FF2 can't handle the network piping.
Posted 36 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

oh greasemonkey will definitely add a little bit more workload on the page rendering, but running FF2 on my G4 Mac Mini with only 512Mb RAM works fine for me.
Posted 36 months ago. ( permalink )

.Luca - Italy says:

Thanks doc18 for this beautiful innovation!
But I have a problem: I installed firefox and greasemonkey. But when I click on the third link I get "Script error"
Where am I wrong?
Posted 36 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

did you restart Firefox after installing Greasemonkey?
Posted 36 months ago. ( permalink )

mortimer? says:

I think there is a small bug doc18. I also posted that on flickr hacks but then I'd better do it here too.
The "name reply" only return when in a group discussion and the user is an admin of the group (because of the small star next to the name probably).

--
Seen in my recent comments. (?)
Posted 36 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

replied on flickr hacks. basically I fixed it :)
Posted 36 months ago. ( permalink )

BB (O.ö) says:

Thanks so much! I'm already working with it! ;)***
Posted 36 months ago. ( permalink )

eksir says:

Posted 36 months ago. ( permalink )

atranswe says:

Thank you - I just installed it - now I have to learn how to use it!
Posted 36 months ago. ( permalink )

Nori the Design Diva says:

Love it, !
Posted 35 months ago. ( permalink )

Pure Chewing Satisfaction says:

i love it!!!

--
Seen in a discussion of Flickr Hacks. (?)
Posted 35 months ago. ( permalink )

kittymax says:

Thanks buddy for the icon reply, it's just great! This deserves a fave, if ever one did! :-)

And thanks to for directing me here!
Posted 35 months ago. ( permalink )

Luvdesign ♥ [deleted] says:

Yay nice one for this, top script!! <3
Posted 35 months ago. ( permalink )

Mrs. Belleza Arecibeña says:

Question doc18, I've installed grease monkey and your script above but when I click icon reply nothing happens, I see the javascript line at the bottom of the page but it won't let me comment...please help!! This looks like great...I'm on explorer now pouting...lol THANKS!!!
Posted 35 months ago. ( permalink )

meyerak says:

testing testing
Posted 35 months ago. ( permalink )

laughingbird says:

Oh, you are the Best! I am so impressed and blown away and very excited to start using this new technique! =)
Posted 35 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

glad to help :)

you are on internet explorer? not firefox?
Posted 35 months ago. ( permalink )

nsbkaizen says:

@: thanks a million for this genius hack - easily the coolest and most useful.
Posted 35 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

thank you (^_^)
Posted 35 months ago. ( permalink )

Stregoika says:

This is cool! Do you know if it works on Windows ME?
Posted 34 months ago. ( permalink )

doc18 says:

I am not sure but if you can run Firefox in ME it should work :)
Posted 34 months ago. ( permalink )

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