Filter news sites by topic – Create your own filter bubble browser extension

6 points by plotti 3 years ago | 4 comments

I made a simple greasemonkey script:

https://gist.github.com/plotti/168f833a94cbd801c50ac7fc5bf280d3

It always runs when you visit a particular newssite. For me its the swiss news-site watson.ch

You can define topics via keywords that you don't want to see on this page (e.g. putin, trump, influencer) and then the script finds that dom element that contains this text and simply hides it.

When I started using it I realized how much of a website is news-junk that i am totally not interested in.

See screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/HtxTynh

Discussion: Obviously the filtering would need to be constantly updated to match the page layout, but with a community of people its not hard to do this, similarly like for adblock lists. I would love to find people who want to turn this script with me into a browser extension that allows people without coding skills to perform this sort of filtering. I also wonder if there are similar projects out there.

How to use:

1. Install Greasemonkey extension

2. Add this script as a userscript and adjust for your needs.

rcjordan 3 years ago |

>wonder if there are similar projects out there

Yes, I've been using Tampermonkey for filtering and modifying sites I visit frequently for 5 years or more. Before that, Ublock to render the page to my preferences. I started with filtering unwanted items in Craigslist and it grew from there. Now, I even filter HN.

My filters mostly remove topics but I also highlight articles with topics of interest. I use this along with scripts and extensions to "white-out" any articles I've already seen.

As you mentioned, though the logic is generally the same, the script has to be customized for each site.

There are concerns that Manifest 3 will cripple adblocking and many userscripts so I've recently moved to Firefox (Crostini).

plotti 3 years ago | |

Do you want to share these scripts with the world? or just me? I would love what you came up with.

rcjordan 3 years ago | | |

I started with server-side php scripts (SimplePie, IIRC) and got banned so I moved to client-side. I don't believe that it is in our best, long-term interest as users to make publishers aware of the possibility of aggressive filtering and page modification.

But let me donate some (US centric) general news negative keywords and phrases for you to try;

'alex jon','buy twitter','Roe ','nicole','9/11','capitol riot','jan\. 6','union','omicron','rushdie','sinema','adams','bannon','Bezos','Biden','Boeing','Camilla','Carlson','cheney','chess','desantis','fetterman','ftx','gabbard','Harris','holmes','hurricane ian','jackson','Manchin','mask','MCc','McGa','McGr','musk','Newsom','nord str','Oath K',' palin','pandemic','Pelosi','Pfiz','powell','rogan','Sunak','Trump','truss','twitter','Uvalde','vaccin','virus','whitmer','zelensky', '#_SOFTnews_SPORTS_SHOCKnews_#=>>>', '\\?','\\] - \\| CNN','5g','for 202','from 202','in 202','of 202','49er','76er','abortion',' abus','ACC ','activis','actor','actress','adele','alien','allege','amputat','amtrak','Apple','argument','artist','ashes','astro','asylum',' aunt ','babies','baby','backs','BAFTA','baseball','basketball','batman','bear ','Bieber','bishop','black hole','blackface','blue ori', 'bomb','Bowl','box off',' boy ','breach','bride','Bronco','brother','Browns','brutal','burglar', 'Cardi ','cardinal','catholi','child','Christ','city council','civil war','climate chan', 'coach','coin','college','concert','Confed','Corvet','could ','county','cowboy', 'CPAC','Cramer','critics ch','crypto',' Cup ', ' dad ','daddies','daddy',' dads ','danc','daughter','davids','dead after','dead at','deadpool', 'debate','deficit','depp','deput','depress','Derby', 'Diana','dies age','died at','dies after','dies at','die in','dies in','dies of','dismemb','divorce','dragon','dream','duchess','Duke', 'e-cig','eagle','ebola','eclipse','editorial','eilish','elephant','emoji','Emmy', 'endorse','engage','entertain','epstein','ESPN','Everest','execution','expect','explo', 'Facebook','family','fashion','father','Fentanyl','fiance','fiery','film',' fire','flood','football','for today','formula','fraternit','funeral', 'gala ','galaxy','gender','Giants',' gift','giraffe','girl','glacier','globes','goal','golf','Grammy','grizzly','groom','gym', 'Hannity','harass','Harry','hero','Hollywood','homeless','honor',' hope','horos','hostage','house fire','st Houston','th Houston','husband','Huawei', 'immigra','infant','inmate','Instagram', 'jackman','jackpot','Jay-Z','Jazz','jobless','jubil','Junet','justice','Kanye','Kardash','kelly','kids ',' kill','king ch','king jr','kitt','KKK', 'lakers','league','LeBron','LGBT','lottery','Lovato','lunar', 'Madness','man gets','man shot','man kill','marathon','market','Markle','marlins','marriage','married','Mars','marvel', 'measles','Meghan','melt','memor','MeToo',' Mets ','might','minister','MLB','MLS ',' mom ','momma',' moms ','moon','mortgage','mother','music', 'NASA','NASCAR','NBA','NCAA','Netfl','NFL','NHL','Nintendo','Nobel','nominate','nominee','NRA ', 'obit','Ocasio','oil spill','Olymp',' Open','opioid','Oscar','overdose', 'Padres','pagaent','parade','Paralympics','parents','Parton','pastor','Patriot','peloton','Phillies','pistons','PGA','police:','police kil','police officer','police shoot', 'Pope ','potential','Powerball','preach','priest','prince','proposed','Proud Boy','Pulitzer','pupp','Qualcom','queen', 'racism','racist','radio list',' rage','raiders','raise','raising','realtor','recipe','rememb', ' rent ','rental',' rents ','resolu','rhino','Richard','rugby', ' seal','seal ','season','seeks','Serena','Series','severed','sexual','shark','shoot','showbiz','simpson','sister','slaught','smith', 'soccer',' son ',' sons ','Sox','SpaceX','Spacey','spears','spider','spotify','Spurs', 'stab ','stabb','starbuck','stock','student','suicid', 'tanker','teachers',' teen','tennis','Tesla','this day','ticketm','Tiger','title','today in','toddler','tornado','tortur', 'tournament','trailer','troop','Twins','Uber','uncle','Ute ','Valentine','vax','veteran','virgin gala','vuitton', 'Wall St','Walmart','warming','warrant','wedding','Weinstein','whale','widow','wife','wildfire','Wimbledon',' win ',' wins ', 'wolver','wrestl','Xiaomi','year-old',

plotti 3 years ago |

I published it on https://greasyfork.org/de/scripts/455551-remove-news