Bouncer: Block "crypto", "rage politics", and more from your X feed using AI (github.com)

by steveharing1 121 comments 54 points
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121 comments

[−] wktmeow 32d ago
Why, when you could just not use X though?
[−] kelseyfrog 32d ago
The only thing stopping me from eating shit is the smell, taste, texture, and possibly of disease. But if all those where removed I'd be the first to chow down.
[−] simianwords 32d ago
This is a clear example of purity spiral groupthink.
[−] jasonmp85 32d ago
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[−] kelseyfrog 32d ago
[flagged]
[−] simianwords 32d ago
Ideological capture be like
[−] pixel_popping 32d ago
Why would you stop using X if it has valuable content at times?
[−] balamatom 30d ago
So that it stops existing.

It has valuable content for you occasionally.

Your behavioral profile is valuable content for it constantly.

Unfair trade.

[−] jackie293746 32d ago
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[−] hilariously 32d ago
[flagged]
[−] pixel_popping 32d ago
But you are ok with Discord? :/
[−] hilariously 32d ago
I do not know about the nazis owning discord yet but I do not use it, I don't think the general zeitgeist recognizes is as a distinctly similar problem yet.
[−] piperswe 31d ago
I personally don't use either X or Discord, and I wouldn't be surprised if there's significant overlap between those who boycott X and those who don't use Discord.
[−] nailer 32d ago
Nobody ‘knows’ this. It’s a silly thing to say.
[−] bdangubic 32d ago
this is like telling smoker not to buy smokes? :)
[−] unselect5917 32d ago
[flagged]
[−] Animats 32d ago
Don't you have to pay Twitter to get programmatic access to a X feed? [1] The documentation mentions using the "Twitter adapter", which uses a paid API.[1] Using an unofficial client has been a TOS violation for many years now, since Twitter killed off TweetDeck.[2]

I used to have an ad filter for Twitter, but gave it up a decade ago when they changed the TOS.

[1] https://docs.x.com/overview

[2] https://cdn.cms-twdigitalassets.com/content/dam/legal-twitte...

[−] rchaud 32d ago
Hasn't everybody already figured out how to do this with a Mute Word list? The topics and names that trend on Twitter are not exactly a mystery. Every post of that nature follows a predictable pattern of key phrases/terms plus stupid emojis in order to "go viral", and can be filtered out easily.
[−] bytecauldron 33d ago
I feel like regex and curated blocklists would get you pretty far before needing an LLM to continuously read your feed. I'm wondering how successful the local options are, because sending your social media feed to an API that is also being used to serve you low quality posts your blocking is a pretty depressing ouroboros.
[−] pawelduda 33d ago
You can also use "muted words" feature built right into X
[−] tonymet 33d ago
Xtwitter’s own mute words feature is very good . And mute words supports TTL. LLM will have precision / recall issues too – no filtering system will be perfect.

Cleaning up 90% for free is better than burning tons of tokens / GPU / battery to clean 95% (and suffer from false positives).

[−] bowserbrowser 32d ago
There would be absolutely nothing of substance left on X without crypto and rage politics
[−] culi 33d ago
Is there a tool to undo the extra weight added to paying subscribers? Analysis shows premium subscribers end up with 10x as much reach on average than people not paying.

Pay2Play was toxic enough on gaming, why would we want it in our social media?

[−] errantmind 32d ago
You can also get excellent results with User Scripts that connect to a local language model.

1. Run LM Studio (download the Gemma 4 model), which has a 'local server' w/ API.

2. Use a more powerful LLM to write User Scripts (Greasemonkey, etc) to do whatever you want on any website you go to. Instruct it to connect to LM Studio.

3. Classify and highlight posts / comments based on any criteria that suits you. Summarize, delete from the DOM, etc., Just have fun.

[−] budududuroiu 32d ago
This might get me back to using X. I only want ML content, nothing else.
[−] SpicyLemonZest 33d ago
I don't think that automated filtering on conditionals like "rage politics" is a good idea. At best, you're going to end up with a confusing feed that contains reactions to the outrage without the actual outrage that's driving them; at worst, you're going to end up systematically misinformed on political topics that people find outrageous.
[−] klntsky 33d ago
It should also click "see less often" on every detected bait post. Heals the algo really well if you do that persistently
[−] ch_fr 32d ago
I would also recommend Control Panel for Twitter, easy to install on PC, and you can also have it for your phone if you use twitter via the Firefox mobile browser.

If all you can see is the following tab, then any ragebait that gets in your way is much more actionable, simply unfollow or mute whoever got it on your feed.

[−] ddtaylor 31d ago
X as a platform is dead. It's all bots and engagement farming. Just disengage.
[−] fortran77 32d ago
What makes X usable for me is the keyword blocking. You can also block posts that contain certain Emojis, including in user profile. This _really_ helps get rid of a lot of crap.
[−] deafpolygon 32d ago
I have an easier solution: just don’t use X.

It does not have anything worth following, and useful content is minimal.

[−] bombdailer 33d ago
I find not using twitter to be the best solution.
[−] camillomiller 33d ago
Then what shall remain?
[−] hgoel 33d ago
I'd like to just quit twitter, but unfortunately the other places devoted to discussing some of the hobbies I go to twitter for, are much more toxic (Reddit, 4chan etc). Simply being able to filter out everything unrelated to the hobbies I'm there for would be sufficient.
[−] sciencesama 32d ago
AI moderation / adblock is the future !
[−] Uptrenda 33d ago
I get the idea but honestly asking: if you filter out stuff like this will you end up with a completely blank feed on x? To me it kind of just seems like we're all going to need to curate our own RSS feeds in the future. eg: real people who are insightful, rather than rely on any kind of algorithm.
[−] patrickmay 33d ago
I find that using Control Panel for Twitter (not affiliated, just a happy customer) to see only the Following tab in reverse chronological order makes X tolerable. There is no benefit to For You.
[−] msarrel 32d ago
TIL: there are still people out there who find value in x even though when I log in my feed is just hatred and false info.
[−] panstromek 33d ago
I will join the others and say you should just leave twitter: https://yoyo-code.com/you-should-delete-twitter/
[−] rootsudo 33d ago
I'm amused at thinking of the other effects this can be used for, rebrand it as a tool like that copilot recall and point it with child privacy in mind for the general internet.

or you know, require it for internet/computer usage for a very dim futuristic outlook.

[−] QuadmasterXLII 32d ago
here I vibecoded an app to fix your twitter experience

sudo cat 0.0.0.0 x.com >> /etc/hosts

[−] Philpax 33d ago
Adding to the chorus: if you need to apply a solution like this, it's probably time to walk away from the platform. (Well, the right time to walk away would have been years ago, but...)
[−] starik36 33d ago
This would be great for Reddit - the king of rage politics.
[−] tantalor 33d ago
Simpler to just delete Twitter
[−] johnwhitman 33d ago
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[−] xgulfie 33d ago
Oh thank God I can still give Elon Musk more money and power but don't have to read about politics
[−] tonetheman 33d ago
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[−] andyjohnson0 33d ago
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[−] jmyeet 33d ago
What I don't understand how difficult it seems to be for some people to simply ignore topics or people they don't like. If an algorithmic feed keeps presenting you with certain topics, it's largely because you're engaging with them. Isn't that on you?

I don't use Twitter but I use Tiktok and you know what I do when I see something I'm not interested in? I scroll up. If it's someone who never has anything interesting to say, I just block them. And I never think about them ever again.

I rarely see anything about crypto. I don't even think about it really. Go back ~4 years and everything on HN was about crypto this and blockchain that but that's how it goes. There are fads and, more importantly, there are people just trying to get their bag with their latest "acquire me please" startups. Actually, crypto just had a bunch of straight rug pulls too. And then there was NFTs...

Anyway, I've worked for my Tiktok fyp. It's a constant moving target for the platform too, like these bot accounts that somehow get to 10K followers and then appear on your fyp with audio over a movie or TV show to get around copyright detection. I honestly don't know how they haven't solved that problem yet.

All these platforms, particularly Twitter, put their thumbs on the scales about what gets distribution but for any platform with a block feature, this seems like a "you" problem if your feed isn't what you want.

Also, "rage politics" in general just means "things I disagree with" whenever anyone talks about what they see on any social media platform.

Block and move on.