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Show HN: Proxlet: Control Twitter w/ API Proxy
We were tired of the noise on Twitter (noisy apps, lame content, erratic but otherwise valuable tweeters), so we decided to fix it. Proxlet is a Twitter API Proxy that runs scripts to modify the Twitter experience. Works with Twitter for iPhone, TweetDeck, and any other client that supports custom API URLs, including a 1-click install Chrome Extension for Twitter.com
What do you think? Right approach?
- aaronwhite 16y agoWe were tired of the noise on Twitter (noisy apps, lame content, erratic but otherwise valuable tweeters), so we decided to fix it. Proxlet is a Twitter API Proxy that runs scripts to modify the Twitter experience. Works with Twitter for iPhone, TweetDeck, and any other client that supports custom API URLs, including a 1-click install Chrome Extension for Twitter.com What do you think? Right approach? (@aaronwhite & @ChrisRicca)
- sudonim 16y agoNice. The chrome extension is new? One of the things I wasn't crazy about before was having to configure my twitter clients to grab my feed via proxlet.
- aaronwhite 16y agoYup, the Chrome Extension is new and what makes it exciting (again). The per-client install process was too difficult/error-prone, so when we saw we could "hook" Twitter.com, we jumped on it.
- mcantelon 16y agoNice job! A couple questions... Is there a way to manage mutes (so you can unmute something that's been muted forever, for example)? Also, if I do mutes, etc., on one computer's Proxlet will they also take effect on another computer I use the Proxlet extension on?
- aaronwhite 16y agoProxlet manages all your settings at Proxlet.com, so if you use multiple Proxlet enabled clients, all your settings will be shared. In terms of unmuting, you can go to Proxlet.com and mute someone for "1 minute" and that will effectively un-mute them. We'll be adding a far more obvious method both on the website and in the extension soon.
- jeffmiller 16y agoAre you guys concerned about having to replicate Twitter's API infrastructure, even at a vastly lower scale? (I'm a fan of the product. The world needs more Twitter filtering.)
- aaronwhite 16y agoSince it's a proxy, we've only had to selectively modify parts of the API, and we have some SecretSauce(tm) that normalizes the process. :)
- jdunck 16y agoI had this same frustration and same implementation idea -- proxy is awesome because any client can easily gain features by a checkbox pref "Use proxlet". I never pursued it because I wasn't sure how I could sustain it -- I asked my heavy-twitter friends about it. They all agreed it sounded like a good idea, but none of them thought they'd be willing to pay for it. Have you done any market research, or are you just doing it for fun for now? Anyway, I'm happy to see it. Where's the paypal donate button?
- aaronwhite 16y agoWe did it to scratch our own itch primarily. It also gave me an excuse to play w/ the Twitter API and lots of really interesting technology (full blog post on how Proxlet is architected soon). Not desperate to monetize it, it can handle many many thousands of users at a cost of $10/mo to us, but we do have some ideas. Paypal donate?! Probably should add that for satisfied super-fans :)
- arieldiaz 16y agoFinally a great way to customize Twitter and make it useful, while diving into some granular control. Awesome technology on the back end as well.
- mhodgson 16y agoWow, works great. Now I can follow people without having to actually listen to them.
- babeKnuth 16y agobest. use-case. ever.
- jdunck 16y agoReally? I hope that's not true. Friend != follow. :-(
- babeKnuth 16y agoha. yes i was serious. internet friend != real-life friend sorry to break the bad news :(
- aaronwhite 16y agoIt's a really common use case actually. Let's say you're a friend IRL, but on Twitter you just talk about sports. I still want you to be able to Direct Message me, but I don't care about sports (I'm myopic and only care about tech ;-)) Proxlet helps you achieve this type of relationship.
- bbalfour 16y agoThis is pretty cool. I'd love to see a list of the most hated twitter users as a measure of who is muted the most using your service. You could also do this with the hash tags to see what the most annoying trends are.
- mmanning 16y agoI've actually started using Twitter much more entirely due to this plugin. There was way too much garbage before. Nice work.
- kmfrk 16y agoAre you planning to expand this to other browsers?
- aaronwhite 16y agoYes. Once we've nailed what people want w/ Chrome, we'll pick the next browser to tackle. Would love to hear people's thoughts on that
- markitechtMA 16y agoThis has transformed my experience with Twitter. I'm using it in Chrome just with the regular Twitter web client and it ROCKS! Nice work guys, definitely going to tell friends and coworkers.
- jwegener 16y agoWHOOO!
- jeffclark 16y agoTwitter.com + Proxlet Chrome Extension = No more foursquare updates. No more annoying conference live-tweets. No more Brett Favre speculation. It's so great. I want to give it a hug.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- chobopants 16y agoProxlet brings Twitter back to the usefulness I came to it for.
- iworkforthem 16y agoclickable: http://proxlet.com/ http://proxlet.com/