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Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

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Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#91

Post by niek_pas »

latexr wrote: post #81
qq66 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it have to work long term? Claude Code probably built it in 2 hours. Sell it for as long as it works. If it provides some value to some people during that time, good for them.

What a rotten state of affairs that we’re now openly suggesting producing garbage with the least effort possible and selling it until caught. We used to criticise those who did that, calling them spammers and scammers and worse. Now, “telling some LLM to take a dump and trying to sell it to some chumps without a sense of smell” is viewed as a smart business model. Anything for an extra buck.

Yup. The fast food philosophy has entered the software development world. Produce cheaply, don't think too much, shove it down your throat, move on.

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#92

Post by walletdrainer »

trinix912 wrote: post #70
altmanaltman wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might not be illegal (criminal) to use a tool like Dull or an ad-blocker, but it is almost certainly a violation of the platform tos. This means the platform (Instagram/YouTube) can legally ban your account or block your IP address for using such tools, even if they can't successfully sue the tool's creator in court.

Given how broad the CFAA is, Instagram/YouTube could just try framing it as accessing their systems without proper permission, as the ToS disallow such usage.

This is disinformation. IG/Youtube will not even consider doing that.

The wording is telling:

> Instagram/YouTube could just try …

Yes, of course they can try anything. That statement is pretty much always going to be true regardless of what you replace the … with.

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#93

Post by duskdozer »

latexr wrote: post #81
qq66 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it have to work long term? Claude Code probably built it in 2 hours. Sell it for as long as it works. If it provides some value to some people during that time, good for them.

What a rotten state of affairs that we’re now openly suggesting producing garbage with the least effort possible and selling it until caught. We used to criticise those who did that, calling them spammers and scammers and worse. Now, “telling some LLM to take a dump and trying to sell it to some chumps without a sense of smell” is viewed as a smart business model. Anything for an extra buck.

Maybe I'm misreading but the parent doesn't seem to be suggesting it as good but asking sarcastically. And yeah, the site has all the LLM-hallmarks.

Anything that's a service and has a single-payment "lifetime subscription" is immediately suspect.

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#94

Post by duskdozer »

gu009 wrote: post #52
qq66 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it have to work long term? Claude Code probably built it in 2 hours. Sell it for as long as it works. If it provides some value to some people during that time, good for them.

> Sell it for as long as it works. I agree with this in principle, but this seems conceptually at odds with selling lifetime licenses (which this product does). The lifetime license option reads like a statement of intention that they'll be around for a long time, but when the TOS of the underlying services come into play as they do here, offering (or buying) a lifetime license seems like a gamble.

> [for the] lifetime [of the current version of the service]

>unlimited data [up to a certain limit]

> ~~no~~ gimmicks

I'm sure I'm missing some

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#95

Post by duskdozer »

nslsm wrote: post #15
Gigachad wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if it is legal, meta and google will just block you from accessing the service.

How?

Detect usage patterns of normal users vs these, and then block access. Ultimately comes down to the companies' ability to throw however many devs at thwarting this one as makes sense for them.

Just as an example I remember, Facebook sponsored posts would be labeled, but if you dug into the HTML, what you'd get was random permutations or junk added to the label, like SSpoSnoSsorReD or something, and they'd use complicated overlays or other things to get the label to be visible. So you wouldn't just be able to use a simple easy rule.

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#96

Post by kasparnoor »

e12e wrote: post #72

Not sure what this app does for Facebook - but I'm a quite happy user of: https://www.beeper.com/ Allows me to use Instagram messages without the app - as well as (Facebook/meta) Messenger (and others). I do wish they had a "support us" subscription tier, as I think the base price is a little steep - and I don't really need any of the paid features. Maybe something around the third or quarter the price. I would hope…

This seems like a really cool solution! Does it adhere to TOS of the services?

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#97

Post by kasparnoor »

danpalmer wrote: post #4

Doing this as a browser extension is one thing, but selling an interface to Instagram and YouTube sounds like it's very risky. What's your basis for thinking this will work long term? I see you're selling yearly or lifetime subscriptions, suggesting you think the product can exist. There have been many attempts at this in the past that have been taken down, why is Dull different?

Fair question. The honest answer is I don't know if Instagram or YouTube will try to shut this down. They haven't so far, but that doesn't mean they won't. They can try to come after me:) But seems like they are the ones losing in court currently for making their own apps so addicting. Wouldn't be a good look to come after such apps.

The subscription model exists partly because of this — if it stops working, you stop paying. The lifetime option is a bet on my part that I can keep maintaining it. If I can't, that's on me. But since this is an app I use daily myself I am extremely motivated to fix every bug and keep the app excellent and all filters working.

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#99

Post by kasparnoor »

dlev_pika wrote: post #23

Is this a way to use FB marketplace and groups without all the other bullshit?! I’m sold

Yeah, Facebook through Dull gives you marketplace and groups without the news feed and suggested content. It's probably the cleanest version of Facebook I've used in years.

Re: Show HN: Dull – Instagram Without Reels, YouTube Without Shorts (iOS)

#100

Post by kasparnoor »

android521 wrote: post #62

please add wechat (without short videos)

Interesting request. I haven't looked into WeChat's web version but I'll check if the short video content is filterable. No promises but noted. We've also gotten requests for Snapchat and TikTok.
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