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Show HN: Feedseer – A Mastodon instance to filter out posts based on content

40 points by sbandadu 8y ago

kovek 8y ago
This looks like it is presented as geared towards mastodon consumers who want to control what they see on their timeline. I think a mastodon client would be a better choice for an entity that supports these features than a mastodon instance. Why did you chose to design such an instance instead of a client with filtering capabilities? This instance looks like a great tool for moderators instead of mastodon consumers.
- bastawhiz 8y ago
  If you have a preferred client or multiple clients across devices, this means that you don't need to worry about differences in features or preferences. It guarantees a consistent experience.
- antpls 8y ago
  Correct me if I'm wrong, but if an instance wants to comply with the recent EU laws about copyrights, GDRP, anti-hate speech, etc, filtering on the server is mandatory anyway. As I understand it, "qualifiers" give the same filtering power to the user too. I guess people could simply send encrypted tweets to the instance, and decrypt them on the client side to escape the filter.
- egypturnash 8y ago
  Not my project, but why bother writing a whole client and maintaining it when all you want to do is build some better filters? Get filtering happening on the server, then it works for everyone on that server regardless of whether they're using the default web app or an app on their phone. Some Mastodon admins share their patches for things outside the scope of what gets approved by the project lead so if they decide it's a good thing then maybe they'll add this feature to their own instance; the 'source code' link at the bottom leads to the git repo that is presumably their live code.
- sbandadu 8y ago
  This will be useful to consumers too since they can filter out angry posts from users they don't follow. I agree that, in practice, this might be more useful to moderators. Another use case is to automatically move posts to folders based on text/URLs in them.
xte 8y ago
Are we really there? Outsourced, automatic, personal censorship? Traditional usenet + personal killfile + (eventually) spamassassin are not enough anymore? Try to think a moment: think how can be easily influenced by platform holders the content you get with all kind of "AI" solution respect of traditional "taxonomy" based solution (usenet hierarchy is essentially a taxonomy, so are feeds, bookmarks etc). Automation is ALWAYS a must, but without loosing control.
- reitanqild 8y ago
  Gave you an upvote since you where downvoted, but I think we'll be better off if we are a bit more nuanced. I too think it is bad when people refuse to listen to each other but there might still be reasons to filter at server level, I can think of 2 somewhat reasonable ones just now that doesn't have to do with censorship.
- makomk 8y ago
  In essence we've been there for a while, since before Mastodon was even a thing in fact. Remember how, a few weeks ago, Wil Wheaton was hounded off Mastodon by folks accusing him of transphobia? That was because he promoted a trans woman's prominent, widely-advertised anti-GamerGate blocklist that - much like all such blocklists - included people she disagreed with, some of whom were trans, and a bunch of Hollywood folks apparently copied it. Twitter has an entire feature designed to enable this kind of blind mass-blocklisting.
- derefr 8y ago
  > Outsourced, automatic, personal censorship? You mean, like spam filtering in Gmail?
- detaro 8y ago
  I'm not sure how this comment applies to the site discussed here? It allows the user to set filters. There is no "influence by platform holders". There is no "AI". There is full control over the automation you use.
comesee 8y ago
I wouldn't want a tool like this deciding what I do or don't see. I thought that was part of the reason from moving away from centralizing platforms. What benefits does this provide over simply not following people?
- nine_k 8y ago
  What if you want to follow someone except for 10% of posts that forward a webcomic you find distasteful? What if you want to find 100 people who occasionally post content in a narrow area interesting for you, but you have no interest in the rest?
- derefr 8y ago
  This is a benefit of moving away from centralizing platforms: rather than the platform forcing you into a particular "editorial" regime [where "no moderation/censorship at all" is an editorial regime just like any other], you can decide for yourself what editorial regime works best for you.
- zaarn 8y ago
  If you don't like it you can use another instance? Maybe you don't see the benefit but I can see some people using this considering I know people heavily relying on pleroma filters.
vuln 8y ago
Oh wow. Another echo chamber!
fenwick67 8y ago
Mastodon already has pretty good regex filtering built in to the platform.
- sbandadu 8y ago
  Yes. Feedseer's qualifiers can do much more than regex filtering, like use AI to analyze the sentiment of a toot. The implementation details of a qualifier (regex, AI or other) are up to its creator and happen outside of Feedseer. Independently, a Feedseer user has the freedom to not use a qualifier (the default), or use it to take action (categorize/filter).
sbandadu 8y ago
I got some feedback that it's hard to understand the site without seeing it in action. So, I wrote this post. https://medium.com/@sunilbandla/introduction-to-feedseer-5787cff7254 https://medium.com/@sunilbandla/introduction-to-feedseer-578....
ocdtrekkie 8y ago
Always cool to see another variant of the fediverse. I wouldn't entrust my feed to algorithms, but I'm sure there's a market for it.

40 points by sbandadu 8y ago

This looks like it is presented as geared towards mastodon consumers who want to control what they see on their timeline. I think a mastodon client would be a better choice for an entity that supports these features than a mastodon instance. Why did you chose to design such an instance instead of a client with filtering capabilities? This instance looks like a great tool for moderators instead of mastodon consumers.

bastawhiz 8y ago
If you have a preferred client or multiple clients across devices, this means that you don't need to worry about differences in features or preferences. It guarantees a consistent experience.
antpls 8y ago
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if an instance wants to comply with the recent EU laws about copyrights, GDRP, anti-hate speech, etc, filtering on the server is mandatory anyway. As I understand it, "qualifiers" give the same filtering power to the user too. I guess people could simply send encrypted tweets to the instance, and decrypt them on the client side to escape the filter.
egypturnash 8y ago
Not my project, but why bother writing a whole client and maintaining it when all you want to do is build some better filters? Get filtering happening on the server, then it works for everyone on that server regardless of whether they're using the default web app or an app on their phone. Some Mastodon admins share their patches for things outside the scope of what gets approved by the project lead so if they decide it's a good thing then maybe they'll add this feature to their own instance; the 'source code' link at the bottom leads to the git repo that is presumably their live code.
sbandadu 8y ago
This will be useful to consumers too since they can filter out angry posts from users they don't follow. I agree that, in practice, this might be more useful to moderators. Another use case is to automatically move posts to folders based on text/URLs in them.

xte 8y ago

Are we really there? Outsourced, automatic, personal censorship? Traditional usenet + personal killfile + (eventually) spamassassin are not enough anymore? Try to think a moment: think how can be easily influenced by platform holders the content you get with all kind of "AI" solution respect of traditional "taxonomy" based solution (usenet hierarchy is essentially a taxonomy, so are feeds, bookmarks etc). Automation is ALWAYS a must, but without loosing control.

reitanqild 8y ago
Gave you an upvote since you where downvoted, but I think we'll be better off if we are a bit more nuanced. I too think it is bad when people refuse to listen to each other but there might still be reasons to filter at server level, I can think of 2 somewhat reasonable ones just now that doesn't have to do with censorship.
makomk 8y ago
In essence we've been there for a while, since before Mastodon was even a thing in fact. Remember how, a few weeks ago, Wil Wheaton was hounded off Mastodon by folks accusing him of transphobia? That was because he promoted a trans woman's prominent, widely-advertised anti-GamerGate blocklist that - much like all such blocklists - included people she disagreed with, some of whom were trans, and a bunch of Hollywood folks apparently copied it. Twitter has an entire feature designed to enable this kind of blind mass-blocklisting.
derefr 8y ago
> Outsourced, automatic, personal censorship? You mean, like spam filtering in Gmail?
detaro 8y ago
I'm not sure how this comment applies to the site discussed here? It allows the user to set filters. There is no "influence by platform holders". There is no "AI". There is full control over the automation you use.

comesee 8y ago

I wouldn't want a tool like this deciding what I do or don't see. I thought that was part of the reason from moving away from centralizing platforms. What benefits does this provide over simply not following people?

nine_k 8y ago
What if you want to follow someone except for 10% of posts that forward a webcomic you find distasteful? What if you want to find 100 people who occasionally post content in a narrow area interesting for you, but you have no interest in the rest?
derefr 8y ago
This is a benefit of moving away from centralizing platforms: rather than the platform forcing you into a particular "editorial" regime [where "no moderation/censorship at all" is an editorial regime just like any other], you can decide for yourself what editorial regime works best for you.
zaarn 8y ago
If you don't like it you can use another instance? Maybe you don't see the benefit but I can see some people using this considering I know people heavily relying on pleroma filters.

vuln 8y ago

Oh wow. Another echo chamber!

fenwick67 8y ago

Mastodon already has pretty good regex filtering built in to the platform.

sbandadu 8y ago
Yes. Feedseer's qualifiers can do much more than regex filtering, like use AI to analyze the sentiment of a toot. The implementation details of a qualifier (regex, AI or other) are up to its creator and happen outside of Feedseer. Independently, a Feedseer user has the freedom to not use a qualifier (the default), or use it to take action (categorize/filter).

sbandadu 8y ago

I got some feedback that it's hard to understand the site without seeing it in action. So, I wrote this post. https://medium.com/@sunilbandla/introduction-to-feedseer-5787cff7254 https://medium.com/@sunilbandla/introduction-to-feedseer-578....

ocdtrekkie 8y ago

Always cool to see another variant of the fediverse. I wouldn't entrust my feed to algorithms, but I'm sure there's a market for it.