uBlock Origin rules for HN: removing MSM news sources reduces systemic stress

88 points

3 years ago

I recently added some uBlock Origin rules for HN that remove news sources focusing principally on `The` News rather than technical topics and the net result has been a much more pleasurable experience on par with HN from a few years ago.

I can read the `news` news in many places, and I do, but I like to come here for industry and niche technical topics.

Many I've spoken to share this sentiment and I hope this is of benefit to anyone wishing to focus more on what they are interested in.

You can block a source or keywords with the same rule:

news.ycombinator.com##table:not(.fatitem) tr > td.title:has-text(/{phrase1}|{phrase2}/):nth-ancestor(1)

e.g. a brief sample of sites that are not principally about technology and recur somewhat frequently (choose your own):

  news.ycombinator.com##table:not(.fatitem) tr > td.title:has-text(/businessinsider.com|dailymail.co.uk|foxnews.com|theverge.com|cnn.com|reuters.com|zerohedge.com|insider.com|bloomberg.com|euronews.com|theguardian.com|wsj.com|ft.com|theconversation.com|thetimes.co.uk|bbc.co.uk|nytimes.com|newyorker.com|theatlantic.com/):nth-ancestor(1)

or simply a phrase:

news.ycombinator.com##table:not(.fatitem) tr > td.title:has-text(/web3|crypto/):nth-ancestor(1)

This rule isn't perfect as it only removes the title line and keeps the number of comments, but it is definitely good enough and I am enjoying reading HN a great deal more.

You can add these to your Android phone too with Firefox and uBO.

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