StumbleUpon.

Can you use StumbleUpon without the toolbar? Yes, of course you can, but why should you and how can you do it? Aren’t there limitations? What are the benefits?

Why should you stop using the StumbleUpon toolbar?

  1. It can mess up your browser: My Firefox was broken ever since I installed the StumbleUpon toolbar. I just couldn’t believe it! A multi million company owned by eBay lets you download a broken extension for Firefox? Impossible, I thought. Every second time I shut down FF it would lose it’s customization on next start up. So I had to use MozBackup daily. To no avail in some cases. Losing precious time and sometimes data. Finally I disabled the StumbleUpon toolbar and since then it did not happen anymore!
  2. StumbleUpon is addictive, time consuming and distracting: You end up stumbling sites for 2 hours in a row instead of working.
  3. Sadly StumbleUpon will not honor your active participation. The contrary is the case, the more you are involved the more you run the risk of losing traffic by automatic filters or people who hate you based on your profession for instance. So contributing too much is rather working for free for eBay. Let others stumble you and the effort vs traffic ratio is much more positive for you.

How can you use StumbleUpon without the toolbar?

  1. Disable it in the Firefox extensions list with a right-click on “Disable”
  2. Go to the StumbleUpon log-in page and log in. If you do not remember your password let SU send it to you, just enter your nick and it will be send to the mail address you registered with.
  3. Now you can perform all actions you are used to on your SU profile, add friends, read and send messages or review pages others have stumbled.
  4. Use the StumbleUpon bookmarklet to thumb up/down or review pages.
  5. Also you can by now log out of your account and stumble anonymously via the on site toolbar and browsing pages stumbled by others on the StumbleUpon front page.

Are there or what are the limitations of using SU without the toolbar?

  1. You can’t send discovered pages directly to your friends
  2. You can’t just stumble by clicking the stumble button

What are the benefits if there are any?

  1. Curbing the time wasted on StumbleUpon, you browse the site lie any other so it’s not addictive anymore.
  2. You can stumble pages and “like them” with a thumbs up on sites that offer “add to StumbleUpon” buttons or via the bookmarklet
  3. No distraction while working of course
  4. Less effort, more choices
  5. You do not end up being filtered or hated for being too active (or a spammer)

To discover new sites or news stories in accordance with my interests I prefer Yoono (new sites) and Spotback (news) or other social browsing services anyways. Less effort more automated, more anonymity.

Last updated November 17th, 2008.

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  4. Does StumbleUpon Crack Down on SEO Already?
  5. 7 Unusual Ways to Use StumbleUpon

September, 2007 | You can follow comments through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback.

This thing has 5 Comments

  1. Michael Martine (15 comments.)
    Posted September 29, 2007 at 2:00 pm | Permalink

    Tad, one great way to submit stumbles without the toolbar is to use the Shareholic Firefox extension.

  2. onreact (591 comments.)
    Posted September 29, 2007 at 5:32 pm | Permalink

    Ah yes! Shareaholic! I used it for half a week and then uninstalled it as I suspected it to be the reason for my Firefox problems…
    Hmmm, I reinstalled it but it has an incompatibility issue with the SearchStatus extension I need for my work… SearchStatus simply disapperead!

  3. Pierre
    Posted October 1, 2007 at 8:01 am | Permalink

    I agree with you on most of things including preferring Yoono to discover stuff.

  4. demexii (1 comments.)
    Posted November 9, 2007 at 3:05 am | Permalink

    It is losing not loosing. They are completely different words. Examples:
    That nail is loose! (not tight but loose)
    I will not lose that nail! (Not be able to find)

  5. onreact (591 comments.)
    Posted November 9, 2007 at 10:11 am | Permalink

    Thank you, it’s also “like” and not “lie”. They are both also very different words.

This thing has 2 Trackbacks

  1. SEO 2.0 | 1000 Pages Liked on StumbleUpon
    Posted October 23, 2007 at 11:09 pm | Permalink

    [...] than 1000 but not significantly as I do not stumble pages I dislike in the first place. Why? I am not using the toolbar anymore as some of you might [...]

  2. 50+ Resources for Utilizing StumbleUpon Effectively | AjaxNinja
    Posted November 8, 2007 at 7:00 am | Permalink

    [...] How to Use StumbleUpon Without the ToolbarIf you’re a StumbleUpon user who has experienced a lot of technical difficulties with the traditional toolbar, then this resource provides some tips on how to keep on stumbling without the toolbar. [...]

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