[HN Gopher] Show HN: Firefox addon that hides news articles abou...
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Show HN: Firefox addon that hides news articles about Covid-19
Author : mailea
Score : 87 points
Date : 2020-04-04 20:12 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (addons.mozilla.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (addons.mozilla.org)
| vardump wrote:
| Direct link in English: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
| US/firefox/addon/phagocyte/
| lihaciudaniel wrote:
| Thank you, this is the best thing right now binging on the news
| is unhealthy taking care of the community is better.
| miked85 wrote:
| How is ignoring a major event like this in any way good?
| theferalrobot wrote:
| You can stay informed while also not wanting to fall into the
| 24hr news cycle drama.
|
| I don't think it's healthy personally for me to read every bit
| of information on it I see. I'm staying at home, I'd rather be
| doing something productive and check in every few days.
| innocentoldguy wrote:
| It might be worthwhile if the media was reporting news, but
| when you have CNN, ABC, MSNBC, ad nauseam stirring up idiotic
| drama for ratings--like throwing tantrums over what the word
| "our" means--what's the point? How is any of that useful?
| arkanciscan wrote:
| There is no possible way to ignore what is happening right now.
| If you want a Cov-19 blocker, you know all you need to know
| already.
| chukye wrote:
| How seeing a lot of news about an event that I can't do
| anything is good? It just gets me depressing! Watch the news is
| the worst thing at the moment! I'm encouraging everyone that I
| love to stay away from this. Fear/depression is way worst than
| this virus.
| miked85 wrote:
| There can definitely be information overload. But ignoring
| everything is not good either.
| chukye wrote:
| I'm sorry, but I really don't understand why ignoring is
| not good.
| jasonv wrote:
| I keep a long list of blocked words in Twitter, Feedly, and I
| try... as much as I can, to only consume news on reuters.com (and
| 4 print weeklies). I block CNN and Facebook in my hosts file.
|
| And yet, I'm barraged on the web with celebrity news, popular
| news, Tiger King (never clicked on it, never wanted it, can't get
| away from it), whatever the foamy coffee thing that's big right
| now.
|
| I know about the shelters in place. I knew not to bring my re-
| usable bags to the grocery this morning.
|
| The whole of media, content, everything you see when you open
| your browser and leave the house, is a monumental barrage of
| trending, overwhelming, unavoidable content. Memes you can't get
| away from but which you'll see hundreds, thousands of times.
|
| Whatever people need to do to get away from it... you'll still
| get it, but if you choose and are aware of the filters you use,
| by all means.
| AznHisoka wrote:
| I saw the first episode of Tiger King, expecting to see some
| epic, thrilling dramatic series, given all the buzz. I was
| severely disappointed. Is this really what humans love to
| watch?
| laxd wrote:
| I'm on episode 4 as we speak, taking it for what it is (low
| brow entertainment). Still waiting for it to live up to the
| hype. I've seen far more engaging junk.
| fortran77 wrote:
| Are you a cat? C'mon now. People who read Hacker News are as
| human as anyone else. I personally love popular television
| reality shows, and I bet you do, too.
| jm547ster wrote:
| It only gets worthwhile in the last episode when he's giving
| the eulogy
| twomoretime wrote:
| Frankly, that's why I consume nothing but torrents. There's no
| other way to avoid being assaulted by ads for the trash you
| describe.
| lethologica wrote:
| Genuinely asking out of curiosity, but at what point does it
| not become easier to just get off of those services than to
| maintain something to make them useable (only just by the
| sounds of it in your case)?
| pauldelany wrote:
| https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Joo_Janta_200_Super-Chro...
| barrystaes wrote:
| So you are saying, it would be possible to block news on the
| latest trump thing that happened?
|
| Its great to have a laugh but it gets old fast.
|
| Would never block Covid-19 myself, but then again i think the
| media in the Netherlands are quite informative and value quality
| content above quantity.
| dessant wrote:
| I don't know. I think it's important to stay informed about the
| evolution of the pandemic, and local news are also extremely
| useful for staying prepared and anticipating certain actions that
| you'll need to take.
|
| It might be better to consume _all_ news in small daily doses
| rather than blocking out potentially critical information.
| agilebyte wrote:
| Some municipalities/provinces (states) already have their own
| channels where you can consume important news OR they send
| emergency alerts to your phone (such as this morning in
| Ontario).
| qubots wrote:
| > It might be better to consume all news in small daily doses
| rather than blocking out potentially critical information.
|
| I'd rather read the one news app on my phone - which basically
| covers everything of what's interesting about the pandemic -
| than trying to consume all news but ending up reading the same
| thing on ten different platforms. This add-on could be a
| solution to this problem.
| crocodiletears wrote:
| Keeping abreast of all news is important, but it's quite
| impossible to do unless you make a conscious effort to break
| out of the current news cycle.
|
| If you follow the news, you know there's a pandemic going on,
| and you know there's a wealth of information out there if you
| need it. But if you're skimming headlines on most aggregators,
| that's more or less all you get to know (with the notable
| exception of gripe-pieces/love-letters concerning the Trump
| administration).
|
| The cognitive overhead of filtering out all that redundant
| information, and the accompanying bullshit hot-takes by self-
| aggrandizing bloggers masquerading as journalists can be so
| exhausting that you risk giving up or developing tunnel-vision
| around it.
|
| It's hard not to remember to check for pandemic updates even if
| you do deliberately filter them out of the news - it directly
| effects you.
|
| I think this plug-in is a very good idea, and should make it
| easier to stay informed with respect to the bigger picture of
| the world.
|
| Missing a couple articles lamenting our circumstances isn't
| really going to save that many lives.
| [deleted]
| catalogia wrote:
| _Very_ little of what I 've read in the news has been
| actionable, particularly national/world news. What am I
| supposed to do with news about hospital supply shortages or
| crazy shoppers two thousand miles away? My local government's
| website and some local news stories have had more useful
| information.
|
| For examples, the top five headlines from lite.cnn.com/en/
| right now:
|
| > _This nurse demonstrates just how fast germs spread even if
| you 're wearing gloves_
|
| I'm not a nurse, and I don't have gloves, so this isn't
| actionable. It might be if I were a nurse, but I'm not.
|
| > _Fact-check: Trump says some states aren 't in jeopardy from
| the virus, denies saying it would go away by April_
|
| There is nothing I can do about Trump being an idiot. Not
| actionable.
|
| > _Opinion: Trump put American lives in China 's hands_
|
| Ditto.
|
| > _Supplies could be delayed due to confusion from the White
| House, companies say_
|
| Ditto.
|
| > _Trump says HHS secretary meant the 'concept' of a pandemic
| kept him up at night in 2019 comment_
|
| Ditto.
| chukye wrote:
| How exactly consuming all news in small daily doses is helping
| you? I don't think it's 'extremely' useful, actually I don't
| think it's useful at all!
| brokensegue wrote:
| The only information you absolutely need to hear is "am I under
| a stay at home order or not". Other than that you can probably
| read no news until the election when you should figure out if
| you think Trump did a good job handling COVID-19 (lol).
| dessant wrote:
| > The only information you absolutely need to hear is "am I
| under a stay at home order or not".
|
| I doubt that's the case for most people, unless they have the
| luxury to completely isolate themselves for months.
| brokensegue wrote:
| I mean if you need aid you should actively seek it out not
| hope the news talks about it in between updating you on the
| death toll and such.
| prox wrote:
| I agree, I understand the sentiment, but shutting yourself off
| is a dangerous head-in-the-sand strategy. Something to be used
| responsibly.
| ravenstine wrote:
| _This just in, from Washington: Donald Trump is racist! In
| other news, we 're all going to die! Are masks effective?
| Nobody seems to agree! #SocialDistancing! Next, we'll listen to
| experts predict things! Maybe they'll be right this time! More
| at 11!_
|
| No, thanks.
| moron4hire wrote:
| That presumes that paying attention to the news is the same
| thing as becoming informed
| clairity wrote:
| nearly all of the current wall of corona news on every news
| site is designed to foment anxiety (entirely different from the
| "fake news" naysayers) and garner future clicks, rather than
| provide critical information.
|
| the public is already doing what they need to do (physical
| distancing, washing hands, self-quarantining if necessary).
| medical professionals and scientists (and their suppliers) need
| time and support to provide care, create/perform tests, and
| develop new treatments and protocols.
|
| beyond that, we need to get our houses in order and then just
| relax as much as we can and wait until we get _substantial
| evidence_ to do something different. all this corona hysteria
| is entirely counter-productive.
| KingFelix wrote:
| I agree, staying informed is good. I also think taking a stroll
| on the internet to read other things happening non C19 related
| is also healthy.
| behnamoh wrote:
| Lots of good posts don't make it to HN's front page, and then
| there's this meaningless, harmful "Show HN"...
| dccoolgai wrote:
| Document.write('')
| Qahlel wrote:
| ublock origin filter:
|
| a:has-text(Corona)
|
| a:has-text(Covid)
|
| a:has-text(Epidemic)
|
| a:has-text(Pandemic)
|
| a:has-text(Virus)
|
| a:has-text(Death)
|
| a:has-text(ICU)
|
| a:has-text(Social Distancing)
|
| a:has-text(corona)
|
| a:has-text(covid)
|
| a:has-text(epidemic)
|
| a:has-text(pandemic)
|
| a:has-text(virus)
|
| a:has-text(death)
|
| a:has-text(social distancing)
| lostinroutine wrote:
| With ignoring case:
|
| a:has-text(/corona/i)
|
| a:has-text(/covid/i)
|
| a:has-text(/epidemic/i)
|
| a:has-text(/pandemic/i)
|
| a:has-text(/virus/i)
|
| a:has-text(/death/i)
|
| a:has-text(/ICU/i)
|
| a:has-text(/social distancing/i)
|
| One-liner:
|
| a:has-text(/corona|covid|epidemic|pandemic|virus|death|social
| distancing|ICU/i)
|
| Source: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Procedural-
| cosmetic-f...
| myroon5 wrote:
| Are there not case insensitive ublock origin filters?
| ovx99 wrote:
| Will this remove just the word, or the entire paragraph, or
| what?
| lostinroutine wrote:
| Just any a-tag containing the listed phrases.
| iKenshu wrote:
| I suppose that this only works with a-href right?
| jonathanoliver wrote:
| I'm seriously thinking I should develop a plug-in that blocks
| news articles about the Kardashians.
| kgwxd wrote:
| I made and use this to do exactly that:
| https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ssure/
|
| I recently added "covid" and "corona" to my desktop list, I
| wouldn't have seen this post, or your comment (because you said
| Kardashian) but I dont use my phone to browse much so I haven't
| updated the list much.
| thelittleone wrote:
| I have the same plugin, it's very effective.. I blocked them
| years ago and have largely forgot they exist.
| [deleted]
| chmanie wrote:
| This means this Show HN link won't show when using the plugin?
| Clever.
| tomaszs wrote:
| Thanks for the plugin. I dont know about other countries, but
| here in Poland we receive SMSes with crucial informations. So
| there is no need to read all the time about it. Unfortunately it
| is very hard to read anything else these days. This plugin can
| help. We need to take care of our mental health. And it is very
| easy to go into panic mode. Especially since its very hard to
| notice symptoms of this. It can be bad for our health also. So
| again thanks. Appreciated
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(page generated 2020-04-04 23:00 UTC)