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XCancel service is suspended until further notice

xcancel.com

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Re: XCancel service is suspended until further notice

#981

Post by alex1138 »

jakevoytko wrote: post #462
trey-jones wrote: post #221

Regardless of the legality of the service: I always use xcancel instead of X. I don't have a twitter account and I don't want to sign in. I just occasionally want to read what some people had to say about something. Even this is usually a mistake. It's probably better taken as entertainment. My point is: companies stop making your product suck, and people won't have a reason to try and fix it for you.

I hate when companies do this. Instagram is a black box for me. Whenever someone sends me a link the web app is completely nonfunctional; clicking links just reload the page, it constantly tries opening the app, etc The last time I signed up for an Instagram account (2016) it got immediately flagged as a bot account. I think I was supposed to appeal it to have it reinstanted, but why bother if this is how badly they…

I'm sorry that I keep posting this but it gets said often enough that I'm just going to hopefully kill it permanently

People say repeatedly Instagram was a 'great acquisition' (it was. It destroyed Facebook's competition. Great for them, not for users). That Zuckerberg bought it when it was 'barely a company'. That it's somehow not antitrust (Zuckerberg in emails: "Instagram can hurt us"). People loved Instagram. Not anymore, not for a long time. Stop giving him the benefit of the doubt

Re: XCancel service is suspended until further notice

#982

Post by knollimar »

alt227 wrote: post #953
harrisoned wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same reason is wrong to require a Google or Apple phone to exercise basic civil duties within government services. You are gating the service, or information, behind a 3rd party ToS, a login, and basically stating that you are not allowed to have it until you hand over personal data to such companies.

I've made this same comment several times now. To live in our 'free' western society, you need to register your birth, get a social security number, and attend state dictated education. Life in general is now gated, and if you do not abide by the rules you do not get the benefits of society. How is this any different to "you are not allowed to have it until you hand over personal data".

Gated by a provate company where they have no recourse if they ban you is an issue. Also they just repeatedly boil to frog with anti user experiences. No, I won't install your app!

Re: XCancel service is suspended until further notice

#983

Post by angoragoats »

alt227 wrote: post #951
angoragoats wrote: post #815

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you have two identical posts, and one is behind a login wall and one isn’t, the one not behind the login wall is objectively more free. Do you disagree with this statement? If so, why?

To live in our 'free' western society you must register your birth and get a social security number. You also need to attend education. This is effectively 'registering' for access to 'society'. I dont see giving twitter an email address to view content on their platform as any different to this.

If you’re going to take the time to respond, could you please at least attempt to answer the clear and straightforward question I asked?

Re: XCancel service is suspended until further notice

#984

Post by lirolero »

ocd wrote: post #61

I don't see how any government or business (especially the former) can justify using X at this point when it doesn't serve the public interest or the interest of customers who deserve at least some choice. It's as unreasonable for them as using Instagram or a dating app for something intended for broad reach and accessibility. I don't particularly like Bluesky, but it's publicly readable and has RSS. Any real solutio…

[dead]

Re: XCancel service is suspended until further notice

#985

Post by Raed667 »

mitxela wrote: post #967
simondotau wrote: post #955

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1 is true: if you control the web server, you control whether the content is published as readable by anonymous visitors. 2 is true: if you disagree, provide the name of that singular corporation. To be clear, you're always relying on corporations, but there's no single gatekeeper. 3 is not the same: if I see something published on "www.water.dcceew.nsw.gov.au" I can be reasonably confident that it is published by my…

1. You don't control the wordpress.com or tumblr.com web server 2. Wordpress or Tumblr respectively 3. but it's not, it's dcceew.tumblr.com or dcceew.wordpress.com

Assuming this is a goodfaith argument for a second !

You can host a wordpress wherever you like with whichever provider you like or even on a potato in a closet. The format and data are open and can be switched to any platform at any time without an account or login.

RSS !

Re: XCancel service is suspended until further notice

#986

Post by petcat »

ben_w wrote: post #939
CSMastermind wrote: post #892

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't see how any government or business (especially the former) can justify using X at this point If your logic is that some citizens won't be able to read what is posted there, then I assume you similarly object to other social media platforms, newspapers, cable TV stations, etc.

If my local government or some local business was limited to using one specific newspaper, this would indeed be a problem. And in reverse, having a concentration of readers (users) on one platform, means that whoever controls that newspaper (platform) gets to be kingmaker for the government and the businesses. Free speech as a constitutional requirement binding on a government to allow it is great; that government th…

There is no constitutional entitlement to receive government information through one's preferred newspaper, website, or social network.

> it is a de facto loss of free speech for everyone else.

You seem to be confused about what 1A is and what it guarantees. It is a restriction on government action against your speech, not a general requirement that everyone have equal access to every privately owned communications channel.

Re: XCancel service is suspended until further notice

#987

Post by ghaff »

benrutter wrote: post #877
trey-jones wrote: post #221

Regardless of the legality of the service: I always use xcancel instead of X. I don't have a twitter account and I don't want to sign in. I just occasionally want to read what some people had to say about something. Even this is usually a mistake. It's probably better taken as entertainment. My point is: companies stop making your product suck, and people won't have a reason to try and fix it for you.

> My point is: companies stop making your product suck, and people won't have a reason to try and fix it for you. Boy this would be nice! X have obviously decided that using the law to take down people fixing its issues is more profitable than fixing them. I'm really curious though, are they right? (Ignoring ethics etc) I used to glance at Twitter when it was less hostile, now I don't bother since it tries to force y…

Well, Twitter/X is also a service with very large network effects. So many people I knew at some level tuned out that it became a very optional thing to glance at--and none of the replacements really took off in my estimation. The bottom line is that I just stopped using that whole category of social media.

Re: XCancel service is suspended until further notice

#988

Post by ValentineC »

mitxela wrote: post #917
ValentineC wrote: post #753

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, for some reason, AI companies like DeepSeek who would rather post news exclusively there than vibecode their own news site.

Do you actually need that news?

No, but I'm referring to the AI news that gets posted on HN with a former Twitter link, because those companies don't have a proper news site of their own.

Re: XCancel service is suspended until further notice

#989

Post by goonersallofyou »

benrutter wrote: post #877
trey-jones wrote: post #221

Regardless of the legality of the service: I always use xcancel instead of X. I don't have a twitter account and I don't want to sign in. I just occasionally want to read what some people had to say about something. Even this is usually a mistake. It's probably better taken as entertainment. My point is: companies stop making your product suck, and people won't have a reason to try and fix it for you.

> My point is: companies stop making your product suck, and people won't have a reason to try and fix it for you. Boy this would be nice! X have obviously decided that using the law to take down people fixing its issues is more profitable than fixing them. I'm really curious though, are they right? (Ignoring ethics etc) I used to glance at Twitter when it was less hostile, now I don't bother since it tries to force y…

Reddit seems to have reversed course with making users sign in as well (or my adblock has updated and removed the forced login modal or something.) but my thought was simply: "Well, I guess I just won't view Reddit content anymore, big whoop."

Re: XCancel service is suspended until further notice

#990

Post by pbasista »

vachina wrote: post #874
pbasista wrote: post #864

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I do not have an account and when I open any profile on it right now, I cannot read it properly. I cannot click on posts. I cannot read replies. I cannot open images. In my opinion, that is quite far from "functional". Such a behavior alone is a sufficient justification, in my opinion, for the services like xcancel to exist. And if the X social network does not want their content to be publicly available, fine.…

Then create a burner account to access said resources, instead of doing gymnastics with a broken third party middleware.

There is no "gymnastics" needed. And those "middleware" layers are working just fine.

A user just opens the original X link in xcancel or some of the similar web service. And it will display the actual content only. Without ads and without other user-alienating features.

I think that it is also way simpler than "creating an account".

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