6 ms·

Show HN: TwitterToNitter. A bookmarklet that makes reading on Twitter easier

90 points by mg 4y ago

beckman466 4y ago
it would be easier if twitter just ported itself to Secure Scuttlebutt or the myriad other p2p/dweb projects.
- elil17 4y ago
  The reality is that Twitter will never do that. They have absolutely no reason to.
  - kdmdlsp 4y ago
    Regulation could give them a reason to, but there's a conflict of interest when the controlling interests in government would prefer to ask the FBI to suppress inconvenient speech[0] on the dominant platforms. 0: https://www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62688532.amp?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16639552854455&csi=1&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fworld-us-canada-62688532 https://www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc.com/news/...
  - beckman466 4y ago
    it was a joke.
cglong 4y ago
I wish this was a browser extension so the redirection could happen automatically! Would probably function similar to [1]. [1]: https://github.com/Jdhaimson/smilealways https://github.com/Jdhaimson/smilealways
- mg 4y ago
  I prefer bookmarklets for a few reasons: Compatibility: Bookmarklets work on all devices. Deskop, iOS and Android. Security: I can easily read and understand the code. They only run when I invoke them. While extensions have access to everything you do an any page, bookmarklets only have access to the page where you invoke them. Flexibility: They are easy to change. For example in this one, I will probably update the array of Nitter instances regularly. Usability: I can organize them just like my other bookmarks. Sharing: I can put the bookmark in just a line of text in a text file with an explanation. As I did here. No need to dabble with extension repositories of Firefox and Chrome, as you would have to with extensions. I don't even know how it would work for other browsers.
  - ramesh31 4y ago
    They are great for us developers who can vet every line. But extremely dangerous for non technical users.
- Hitton 4y ago
  Except for the random choosing of instances it's easy to do with Redirector: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/redirector/ocgpenflpmgnfapjedencafcfakcekcd?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/redirector/ocgpenf... https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/redirector/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/redirector/ Userscripts don't work too well for this, because you have to either check all links everywhere or delay redirection to only after you reached the page.
- calvinmorrison 4y ago
  I use "nitter redirect" for firefox. I actually don't like it, I spend more time on twitter now
- hadrien01 4y ago
  I use Privacy Redirect: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-redirect/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-redir... It also works for Invidious and Bibliogram, but I only use it for Nitter.
- codetrotter 4y ago
  There was also this from the other day. LibRedirect: Redirect YouTube, Twitter, Instagram to privacy friendly services https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32916318 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32916318
- kixiQu 4y ago
  Tampermonkey scripts combine well with this kind of thing, IMO; I use bookmarklets for stuff I only want to happen on command (https://maya.land/bookmarklets/readable/ https://maya.land/bookmarklets/readable/) and Tampermonkey to automatically or conditionally invoke bits (https://maya.land/user-scripts/hypothesis/ https://maya.land/user-scripts/hypothesis/)
- pessimizer 4y ago
  You can just use any of the twitter/website redirector browser plugins to forward https://twitter.com/[X] https://twitter.com/[X] to https://farside.link/nitter/[X] https://farside.link/nitter/[X]
MonkeyMalarky 4y ago
Fantastic. I don't have a twitter account and it's really annoying to open a link and find out twitter thinks it's adult content (often not really) and get a login page. Or just scroll too far into the replies get hit with a login.
awinter-py 4y ago
cannot believe twitter web ux is as bad as it is feel like it's half not their fault (scrolling is hard to customize in the DOM), half mostly of their fault (you can use columns to make infinite-scroll interfaces less neurologically grating), and half totally their fault (giant dom hierarchy that ruins my ram, loading recirc before content, zero confidence when ctrl-clicking something whether it will actually open in a new tab)
- recursive 4y ago
  The reason it's hard to customize scrolling is probably that it worked perfectly well in the first place. The solution is to stop messing with it.
  - andirk 4y ago
    I often feel like every advancement in web UI is a downgrade. In other words, bring back <blink> and <marquee>.
- labster 4y ago
  Nitter provides superior UX even though it takes 10 times longer to load. Think about that, I’m waiting 15 seconds because that is more enjoyable than Twitter’s native interface. No nags, no autoplay videos, no repeated clicking to see a single thread, reasonable amounts of whitespace.
  - 3np 4y ago
    10 times longer sounds abnormal. Try self-hosting and it may even load faster.
mnd999 4y ago
It’s pretty easy to host your own Nitter instance too (I do) if you want to avoid the rate limiter errors.
- Macha 4y ago
  This does negate some of the privacy from Twitter advantages, especially if hosted in your home network. Of course nitter also has the privacy from instance operator question, and your two options are basically to use a small list of instances you trust or such a large pool of instances that the instance operator has very little to link together
aquova 4y ago
Nitter is an excellent alternative. The only thing stopping me from 100% using it, as I have for Reddit->Libreddit and Youtube->Invidious is the lack of some sort of timeline. I tried setting up an RSS feed for it, but I mostly use Twitter to follow artists I like, and it wasn't easy to browse. Fortunately, there is a pull request for this feature (https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/pull/363 https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/pull/363) but it's been sitting for a while.
- Ambolia 4y ago
  You can separate users with commas on nitter to get a chronological timeline: https://nitter.net/ID_AA_Carmack,PeterZeihan https://nitter.net/ID_AA_Carmack,PeterZeihan Otherwise you can get RSS links from nitter and add them to the browser extension Fraidycat, I'm not 100% happy with it but it's decent to follow RSS links in a sort of timeline kind of way: https://fraidyc.at/ https://fraidyc.at/
  - bjelkeman-again 4y ago
    That Fraidycat app is really very interesting. Thanks, I am going to try that out.
basicoperation 4y ago
I use a share screen shortcut in iOS to do something similar. Very simplistic, but here’s a link if anyone would find it useful: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/ac27cb797ddc479784f22631d69a86f2 https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/ac27cb797ddc479784f22631d69...
Recursing 4y ago
I recently found out that you can just click "log in" and then click the "X" in the top left to close the modal, without actually logging in. Previously I was using this bookmarklet: javascript:(function()%7Bdocument.querySelector("html").style%5B'overflow'%5D %3D 'visible'%7D)()%3B
- mg 4y ago
  Yay, the two-click solution is awesome! That is what I like about HN! You post a one-line-of-code solution for something and someone comes up with a way to get rid of even that one line! I put that info in the repo now.
stefanvdw1 4y ago
I’ve been wanting to make a browser extension that does this for multiple sites. Besides Nitter, what other options exists out there for sites such as Reddit or Instagram?
- qjx 4y ago
  for reddit there's teddit.net for instagram there was bibliogram.art which unfortunately shut down recently due to instagram's tactics
  - moneywoes 4y ago
    What did IG do?
    - woofcat 4y ago
      Ip block all datacenter ip address ranges effectively
- anon_123g987 4y ago
  Privacy Redirect: Redirects Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and more to privacy friendly alternatives. https://addons.mozilla.org/ja/firefox/addon/privacy-redirect/ https://addons.mozilla.org/ja/firefox/addon/privacy-redirect...
  - stefanvdw1 4y ago
    Thanks!
otsaloma 4y ago
I used to use a Nitter redirect extension, but whatever Nitter instance I was using was unbearably slow. I've now been using https://github.com/MaySoMusician/breakthrough-twitter-login-wall https://github.com/MaySoMusician/breakthrough-twitter-login-... . It seems to work fine (if login wall is your gripe with Twitter).
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
ewuhic 4y ago
There's also an extension called "alternative frontends", which does that and even more[0] [0]: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/alternative-frontends/nggkfbfgenidmkgicociibgobjadaham https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/alternative-fronte...
- Kuinox 4y ago
  Given count of 7 users, are you perhaps the author ?
jonas-w 4y ago
I'm using libredirect, i never see the original frontend and it works like a charm. Related discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32916318 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32916318
berkut 4y ago
Mildly off-topic, but... One minor annoyance I have with one of the "open" Nitter hosting sites I use to follow Twitter accounts is that Nitter seems (at least on iOS) to save bookmarks with the original twitter URL instead of the Nitter one I'm currently viewing, and I then have to manually edit the bookmark URL to correct it... Does anyone know if it's possible to control this (with an option?) if I were to host Nitter myself (open source I guess, but still)?
- pwdisswordfish0 4y ago
  The bookmarked URL is under the control of your browser. Could you provide more detail?
  - berkut 4y ago
    Looks like it's a Safari "issue", in that the HTML has: <link rel="canonical" href="originalURL"> in the main page, and Safari uses that, rather than the actual page, I guess by design. Doesn't seem to happen in Firefox on MacOS or Linux.
westcort 4y ago
Here is the same code, except you can just drag and drop the code into your bookmarks bar: https://locserendipity.com/Nitter.html https://locserendipity.com/Nitter.html What a great idea! Edit: Please note that this will only work for desktop browsers
- pwdisswordfish0 4y ago
  The instructions provided in the README (about manually bookmarking a bookmarklet link) reflects the careful process that has to be followed to use bookmarklets on mobile browsers. The instructions to drag and drop this bookmarklet (or even long press and copy the link destination) will fail for anyone who's not using a traditional desktop/laptop form factor computer system.
  - westcort 4y ago
    Thanks! I have added that disclaimer.
- mg 4y ago
  Yes, I would like to add that to the repo's readme, but Github's Markdown does not support JavaScript links: https://github.com/github/markup/issues/1592 https://github.com/github/markup/issues/1592
imron 4y ago
The existence of something like nitter demonstrates 2 things: 1. There is massive demand for the product Twitter has on offer. 2. Twitter is utterly incompetent at capitalizing on that demand. This has been true more or less for Twitter’s entire existence.
loceng 4y ago
Tip of the day: Replace "Reddit" with "Reveddit" of any Reddit.com URL to get access to an archive of deleted comments/accounts [assuming archived in time before deletion]

90 points by mg 4y ago

beckman466 4y ago

it would be easier if twitter just ported itself to Secure Scuttlebutt or the myriad other p2p/dweb projects.

elil17 4y ago
The reality is that Twitter will never do that. They have absolutely no reason to.
- kdmdlsp 4y ago
  Regulation could give them a reason to, but there's a conflict of interest when the controlling interests in government would prefer to ask the FBI to suppress inconvenient speech[0] on the dominant platforms. 0: https://www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62688532.amp?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16639552854455&csi=1&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fworld-us-canada-62688532 https://www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc.com/news/...
- beckman466 4y ago
  it was a joke.

cglong 4y ago

I wish this was a browser extension so the redirection could happen automatically! Would probably function similar to [1]. [1]: https://github.com/Jdhaimson/smilealways https://github.com/Jdhaimson/smilealways

mg 4y ago
I prefer bookmarklets for a few reasons: Compatibility: Bookmarklets work on all devices. Deskop, iOS and Android. Security: I can easily read and understand the code. They only run when I invoke them. While extensions have access to everything you do an any page, bookmarklets only have access to the page where you invoke them. Flexibility: They are easy to change. For example in this one, I will probably update the array of Nitter instances regularly. Usability: I can organize them just like my other bookmarks. Sharing: I can put the bookmark in just a line of text in a text file with an explanation. As I did here. No need to dabble with extension repositories of Firefox and Chrome, as you would have to with extensions. I don't even know how it would work for other browsers.
- ramesh31 4y ago
  They are great for us developers who can vet every line. But extremely dangerous for non technical users.
Hitton 4y ago
Except for the random choosing of instances it's easy to do with Redirector: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/redirector/ocgpenflpmgnfapjedencafcfakcekcd?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/redirector/ocgpenf... https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/redirector/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/redirector/ Userscripts don't work too well for this, because you have to either check all links everywhere or delay redirection to only after you reached the page.
calvinmorrison 4y ago
I use "nitter redirect" for firefox. I actually don't like it, I spend more time on twitter now
hadrien01 4y ago
I use Privacy Redirect: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-redirect/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-redir... It also works for Invidious and Bibliogram, but I only use it for Nitter.
codetrotter 4y ago
There was also this from the other day. LibRedirect: Redirect YouTube, Twitter, Instagram to privacy friendly services https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32916318 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32916318
kixiQu 4y ago
Tampermonkey scripts combine well with this kind of thing, IMO; I use bookmarklets for stuff I only want to happen on command (https://maya.land/bookmarklets/readable/ https://maya.land/bookmarklets/readable/) and Tampermonkey to automatically or conditionally invoke bits (https://maya.land/user-scripts/hypothesis/ https://maya.land/user-scripts/hypothesis/)
pessimizer 4y ago
You can just use any of the twitter/website redirector browser plugins to forward https://twitter.com/[X] https://twitter.com/[X] to https://farside.link/nitter/[X] https://farside.link/nitter/[X]

MonkeyMalarky 4y ago

Fantastic. I don't have a twitter account and it's really annoying to open a link and find out twitter thinks it's adult content (often not really) and get a login page. Or just scroll too far into the replies get hit with a login.

awinter-py 4y ago

cannot believe twitter web ux is as bad as it is feel like it's half not their fault (scrolling is hard to customize in the DOM), half mostly of their fault (you can use columns to make infinite-scroll interfaces less neurologically grating), and half totally their fault (giant dom hierarchy that ruins my ram, loading recirc before content, zero confidence when ctrl-clicking something whether it will actually open in a new tab)

recursive 4y ago
The reason it's hard to customize scrolling is probably that it worked perfectly well in the first place. The solution is to stop messing with it.
- andirk 4y ago
  I often feel like every advancement in web UI is a downgrade. In other words, bring back <blink> and <marquee>.
labster 4y ago
Nitter provides superior UX even though it takes 10 times longer to load. Think about that, I’m waiting 15 seconds because that is more enjoyable than Twitter’s native interface. No nags, no autoplay videos, no repeated clicking to see a single thread, reasonable amounts of whitespace.
- 3np 4y ago
  10 times longer sounds abnormal. Try self-hosting and it may even load faster.

mnd999 4y ago

It’s pretty easy to host your own Nitter instance too (I do) if you want to avoid the rate limiter errors.

Macha 4y ago
This does negate some of the privacy from Twitter advantages, especially if hosted in your home network. Of course nitter also has the privacy from instance operator question, and your two options are basically to use a small list of instances you trust or such a large pool of instances that the instance operator has very little to link together

aquova 4y ago

Nitter is an excellent alternative. The only thing stopping me from 100% using it, as I have for Reddit->Libreddit and Youtube->Invidious is the lack of some sort of timeline. I tried setting up an RSS feed for it, but I mostly use Twitter to follow artists I like, and it wasn't easy to browse. Fortunately, there is a pull request for this feature (https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/pull/363 https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/pull/363) but it's been sitting for a while.

Ambolia 4y ago
You can separate users with commas on nitter to get a chronological timeline: https://nitter.net/ID_AA_Carmack,PeterZeihan https://nitter.net/ID_AA_Carmack,PeterZeihan Otherwise you can get RSS links from nitter and add them to the browser extension Fraidycat, I'm not 100% happy with it but it's decent to follow RSS links in a sort of timeline kind of way: https://fraidyc.at/ https://fraidyc.at/
- bjelkeman-again 4y ago
  That Fraidycat app is really very interesting. Thanks, I am going to try that out.

basicoperation 4y ago

I use a share screen shortcut in iOS to do something similar. Very simplistic, but here’s a link if anyone would find it useful: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/ac27cb797ddc479784f22631d69a86f2 https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/ac27cb797ddc479784f22631d69...

Recursing 4y ago

I recently found out that you can just click "log in" and then click the "X" in the top left to close the modal, without actually logging in. Previously I was using this bookmarklet: javascript:(function()%7Bdocument.querySelector("html").style%5B'overflow'%5D %3D 'visible'%7D)()%3B

mg 4y ago
Yay, the two-click solution is awesome! That is what I like about HN! You post a one-line-of-code solution for something and someone comes up with a way to get rid of even that one line! I put that info in the repo now.

stefanvdw1 4y ago

I’ve been wanting to make a browser extension that does this for multiple sites. Besides Nitter, what other options exists out there for sites such as Reddit or Instagram?

qjx 4y ago
for reddit there's teddit.net for instagram there was bibliogram.art which unfortunately shut down recently due to instagram's tactics
- moneywoes 4y ago
  What did IG do?
  - woofcat 4y ago
    Ip block all datacenter ip address ranges effectively
anon_123g987 4y ago
Privacy Redirect: Redirects Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and more to privacy friendly alternatives. https://addons.mozilla.org/ja/firefox/addon/privacy-redirect/ https://addons.mozilla.org/ja/firefox/addon/privacy-redirect...
- stefanvdw1 4y ago
  Thanks!

otsaloma 4y ago

I used to use a Nitter redirect extension, but whatever Nitter instance I was using was unbearably slow. I've now been using https://github.com/MaySoMusician/breakthrough-twitter-login-wall https://github.com/MaySoMusician/breakthrough-twitter-login-... . It seems to work fine (if login wall is your gripe with Twitter).

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

ewuhic 4y ago

There's also an extension called "alternative frontends", which does that and even more[0] [0]: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/alternative-frontends/nggkfbfgenidmkgicociibgobjadaham https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/alternative-fronte...

Kuinox 4y ago
Given count of 7 users, are you perhaps the author ?

jonas-w 4y ago

I'm using libredirect, i never see the original frontend and it works like a charm. Related discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32916318 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32916318

berkut 4y ago

Mildly off-topic, but... One minor annoyance I have with one of the "open" Nitter hosting sites I use to follow Twitter accounts is that Nitter seems (at least on iOS) to save bookmarks with the original twitter URL instead of the Nitter one I'm currently viewing, and I then have to manually edit the bookmark URL to correct it... Does anyone know if it's possible to control this (with an option?) if I were to host Nitter myself (open source I guess, but still)?

pwdisswordfish0 4y ago
The bookmarked URL is under the control of your browser. Could you provide more detail?
- berkut 4y ago
  Looks like it's a Safari "issue", in that the HTML has: <link rel="canonical" href="originalURL"> in the main page, and Safari uses that, rather than the actual page, I guess by design. Doesn't seem to happen in Firefox on MacOS or Linux.

westcort 4y ago

Here is the same code, except you can just drag and drop the code into your bookmarks bar: https://locserendipity.com/Nitter.html https://locserendipity.com/Nitter.html What a great idea! Edit: Please note that this will only work for desktop browsers

pwdisswordfish0 4y ago
The instructions provided in the README (about manually bookmarking a bookmarklet link) reflects the careful process that has to be followed to use bookmarklets on mobile browsers. The instructions to drag and drop this bookmarklet (or even long press and copy the link destination) will fail for anyone who's not using a traditional desktop/laptop form factor computer system.
- westcort 4y ago
  Thanks! I have added that disclaimer.
mg 4y ago
Yes, I would like to add that to the repo's readme, but Github's Markdown does not support JavaScript links: https://github.com/github/markup/issues/1592 https://github.com/github/markup/issues/1592

imron 4y ago

The existence of something like nitter demonstrates 2 things: 1. There is massive demand for the product Twitter has on offer. 2. Twitter is utterly incompetent at capitalizing on that demand. This has been true more or less for Twitter’s entire existence.

loceng 4y ago

Tip of the day: Replace "Reddit" with "Reveddit" of any Reddit.com URL to get access to an archive of deleted comments/accounts [assuming archived in time before deletion]