> HN submissions are usually long-form content, so it's rare to see X links anyway.
There are, at minimum, tens of Twitter links that I see daily which make it to the first couple of pages of the site. A lot of them are AI-related content, which seems to be popular there.
> And in case an X submission is genuinely interesting, it won't be hard to access or infer the content from the comments or other sources.
I don’t want to have to do this. I think we should just disallow Twitter links for posts.
I've emailed HN's mods requesting Twitter/X links be site-banned as hard-paywalled, given that Nitter and XCancel had also just received C&Ds (<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49437283>).
Probably the best use case for onion routing and IPFS. Each X URL gets a content addressable IPFS URL, served via an onion site that should be hard to take down.
Browser->Tor Onion site->IPFS as storage system pull through cache->X
Or just a .onion for the frontend and code forge + another server at some clearnet domain proxying it (until taken down and replaced with the new one) would probably work fine. The hidden service can even terminate TLS with a valid cert for the clearnet domain.
True, I suggested IPFS as an hidden content addressable, globally distributed caching proxy and persistent object store. Run it from outside the reach of the US legal framework, like private/shadow libraries/archives (as you could consider it an archive of X, with public access when available).
Another idea I recently had was extending Karakeep (https://github.com/karakeep-app/), which has robust archiving capabilities today, to enable announcing archived URLs via a DHT and serving the archive bundle as a torrent (similar to how the Internet Archive creates a torrent file for each item). With some work, it would be the equivalent of a distributed Wayback Machine, with each instance able to act as both scraper and server. With a browser extension that could query this DHT, you could retrieve an archived version of any URL that has been archived by cherry picking from the swarm (each URL becomes a magnet torrent URL, very similar to IPFS, but with less bootstrapping required imho).
Nitter itself is still fine, there are like 2 public-ish instances I‘m aware of but I think people should go out and host some in more private communities/run one over Tor or something
From HN's PoV, the issue is that there aren't well-known workarounds which can be used for X.com / Twitter.com submissions. HN's principle concern is more that any discussion on such posts will largely revolve around the regwall / paywall, which doesn't advance HN's own prime directive: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27901918>
For HN, does that mean we should no longer be using X links, since most can't view them?
Content from X worth sharing is rare anyway.
I'm not any authority here, but I'd say, there's no need for a Reddit-moment to ban it entirely.
Though it wouldn't bother me either.
Directly linked single text posts are still publicly accessible last I checked, but it's a microblogging platform littered with spam.
HN submissions are usually long-form content, so it's rare to see X links anyway.
And comments obey the voting system, so who cares whether people link to X, LinkedIn, Facebook or whatever else.
Banning X in comments would require to ban the others as well, and I think the mods and users can handle by themselves what is relevant in that case.
And in case an X submission is genuinely interesting, it won't be hard to access or infer the content from the comments or other sources.
> HN submissions are usually long-form content, so it's rare to see X links anyway.
There are, at minimum, tens of Twitter links that I see daily which make it to the first couple of pages of the site. A lot of them are AI-related content, which seems to be popular there.
> And in case an X submission is genuinely interesting, it won't be hard to access or infer the content from the comments or other sources.
I don’t want to have to do this. I think we should just disallow Twitter links for posts.
Yes, and yes.
Same category and policy as paywalled news sites.
No, it’s not anymore, since the HN FAQ[0] specifically states:
“It's ok to post stories from sites with paywalls that have workarounds.“
There don’t appear to be workarounds for Twitter anymore.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html
Thanks, just looked it up and here is a link for those who want to read it:
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html
Sorry, forgot to add the link! Edited my post to add it like I intended.
I've emailed HN's mods requesting Twitter/X links be site-banned as hard-paywalled, given that Nitter and XCancel had also just received C&Ds (<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49437283>).
It can still by bypassed with working nitter instances. Nitter doesn't have to be legal. Archive.today certainly isn't.
I too dislike logging into Twitter/X, but that's not a paywall, the accounts are still free, no?
This was obviously going to happen once Nitter got an immediate C&D.
It just means that it will happen to these alternatives as well and the lawyers have all the money from X Corp to do just that.
These open source projects circumventing X for free, unfortunately have zero chance in fighting these legal takedowns.
Hoping we'll see more resilient development/hosting emerge
Probably the best use case for onion routing and IPFS. Each X URL gets a content addressable IPFS URL, served via an onion site that should be hard to take down.
Browser->Tor Onion site->IPFS as storage system pull through cache->X
Or just a .onion for the frontend and code forge + another server at some clearnet domain proxying it (until taken down and replaced with the new one) would probably work fine. The hidden service can even terminate TLS with a valid cert for the clearnet domain.
True, I suggested IPFS as an hidden content addressable, globally distributed caching proxy and persistent object store. Run it from outside the reach of the US legal framework, like private/shadow libraries/archives (as you could consider it an archive of X, with public access when available).
Another idea I recently had was extending Karakeep (https://github.com/karakeep-app/), which has robust archiving capabilities today, to enable announcing archived URLs via a DHT and serving the archive bundle as a torrent (similar to how the Internet Archive creates a torrent file for each item). With some work, it would be the equivalent of a distributed Wayback Machine, with each instance able to act as both scraper and server. With a browser extension that could query this DHT, you could retrieve an archived version of any URL that has been archived by cherry picking from the swarm (each URL becomes a magnet torrent URL, very similar to IPFS, but with less bootstrapping required imho).
Distributed web adjacent (https://getdweb.net/).
Meanwhlie Grok and other AI bro bots non-consensually scrape everything.
Related discussion and predictions (2 days ago):
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49449576
Seemed worth a new post, now that they actually killed it today :(
Is there any frontend still standing?
ChrisArchitect is pretty good at distinguishing between when a discussion is a dupe and when it is related.
Their comment history makes this clear.
Nitter itself is still fine, there are like 2 public-ish instances I‘m aware of but I think people should go out and host some in more private communities/run one over Tor or something
I don't know what your definition of "fine" is, but Nitter and XCancel received C&Ds three days ago:
<https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/issues/1442>
HN: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49437283>
From HN's PoV, the issue is that there aren't well-known workarounds which can be used for X.com / Twitter.com submissions. HN's principle concern is more that any discussion on such posts will largely revolve around the regwall / paywall, which doesn't advance HN's own prime directive: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27901918>