How do I hide CityVille stories in smart lists for real?

Question

I click Hide all by CityVille on my smart list and it seems to work. The stories disappear the message below appears:

Stories hidden. Undo
Stories from CityVille won't appear in your News Feed anymore. 

However, when I reload the list, I still see these stories. I also don't think this is an eventual consistency matter since I've been trying to hide the stories for days.

Is CityVille getting some sort of special treatment from Facebook? Are they hacking their way in my lists in spite of Facebook (very very unlikely)? Is there any way to get rid of them?

Answer 1

You cannot hide these stories individually but there is a workaround described in this Facebook Help Center thread posted by Curt R.

Go to each of your custom lists:

1. In the upper right corner, click the "Manage List" button
2. In the resulting pop-up, click "Choose Update Types..."
3. Click to deselect the types to see.

I removed "Games" and "Other Activity" and no longer see reports of my friends activity from games, apps, horoscopes, news outlets, etc.

This is just a workaround since it doesn't let you block individual apps.

I can confirm that this is a bug since Facebook rolled out the friend list feature. It appears to be all apps, and there doesn't seem to be a solution. Facebook users are complaining. Blocking apps still works in the main News Feed.