I was browsing SN as one does, viewing posts and reading comments, and it occurred to me: it might be nice if you could configure a setting in your profile as to whether you want to load the embedded Twitter/X and Youtube media panels on posts.
I figured, some stackers probably don't want their browser to communicate with Youtube and X, at least not directly, though they still want to read the discussion on these posts on SN. Or at least, they might look for an alternative link that is more privacy preserving, like nitter.
This is also applicable to ~privacy, but it makes more sense here in ~meta.
If stackers agree with this idea, I'll be happy to open an issue in the GitHub repo, and maybe even implement it if I find time.
So, what do you think? If there was an option in your settings to disable auto-loading of twitter and youtube embeds on posts, would you use it?
121 sats \ 5 replies \ @mo 17 Jul
privacybadger.org
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Cool! I don't think that is 100% inline with this idea, since it's more about ad-tracking as opposed to looking at the media at all, but definitely very related! Perhaps I am mistaken, though.
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0 sats \ 3 replies \ @mo 17 Jul
It also stops external medias to load automatically. Did you try it?
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No, I just read about it on the website briefly.
Edit: I see your edit now. I didn't realize that, my mistake! I still think it might be useful to have this built in, instead of having to rely on a browser extension, but I do bet many people use browser extensions like this!
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @mo 17 Jul
Not sure why you'd like a build in solution if you can do it yourself in 10 sec and apply the rule to any site you might visit... Anyhow, I found it useful for this specific reason you shared and wanted to let you know it exists already!
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Yes, thank you very much for sharing! Otherwise I would not have known about it.
My main argument for building it in would be that some people prefer not to install browser extensions, so having it as part of the website would make this available to those users 🤷‍♂️
Edit: also, some folks use SN on platforms that don't support browser extensions, like on iOS for example. So it would be useful to be built in for that segment.
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I oppose this option. I think that Stackers should have all the options.
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I'm not sure I understand what you mean? This option would allow stackers to have it either way: automatically show OR hide the embedded content from youtube and twitter/X, based on their preference
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If that's the case I agree. I thought it to one sided.
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Ah gotcha! Yea my intent was to allow stackers to choose whether they want to have it auto load or not, so you could preserve the current functionality if you want, or you could disable it.
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I want that option
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For posterity, I opened https://github.com/stackernews/stacker.news/issues/1331 to track this feature request.
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