[HN Gopher] Neuters: Lightweight front end to Reuters News
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       Neuters: Lightweight front end to Reuters News
        
       Author : walterbell
       Score  : 118 points
       Date   : 2024-12-29 23:42 UTC (23 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (neuters.de)
 (TXT) w3m dump (neuters.de)
        
       | rickcarlino wrote:
       | Something similar for the Gemini Protocol ("modern gopher"):
       | https://github.com/acidus99/NewsWaffle
        
       | rattray wrote:
       | Wish there was an example link on the project homepage. Or better
       | yet, links to a few of the top current articles from the Reuters
       | homepage.
        
         | anakaiti wrote:
         | It's literally on the home page: https://neuters.de
        
           | thunderbong wrote:
           | I agree with the parent comment, though - it wasn't obvious
           | to me that this is the 'About' page of the site. Also, the
           | link to go to the Home page is in footer right at the bottom.
        
             | otteromkram wrote:
             | Sorry you were having such trouble.
             | 
             | On a positive note, the next time you land on a similar
             | page, you'll know two more methods of finding a solution:
             | 1. Check the URL.             2. Check the footer.
        
               | szszrk wrote:
               | Web pages have hyperlinks for us to use. Why would you
               | ignore that?
               | 
               | Going back to home page should be built in and easy. I
               | had the same issue, mobile browsers don't even show uri
               | properly or hide menu, so manually editing address is not
               | exactly my first thought on how to navigate a web page.
        
             | oneeyedpigeon wrote:
             | > it wasn't obvious to me that this is the 'About' page of
             | the site
             | 
             | What kind of browser are you using? Aside from the url
             | ending "/about", the first thing I see on the page is a big
             | bold heading that reads "About".
        
               | rattray wrote:
               | I was using a mobile browser; on many mobile browsers
               | it's hard to see/edit the URL, unfortunately.
        
       | vivzkestrel wrote:
       | wouldn't that be straight up illegal? just asking
        
         | HideousKojima wrote:
         | Why would it be?
        
           | mongol wrote:
           | Copyright infringment. But to be fair, perhaps the texts are
           | licensed from Reuters to publish this way. It is unclear to
           | me.
        
       | throwaway81523 wrote:
       | I did one of these some years back and used it for a while. It
       | stopped working and I didn't bother trying to fix it. I can post
       | the code someplace if anyone wants it. A page or two of Python.
        
         | jingojango2 wrote:
         | currently doing something similar with python, I'd love to
         | deepdive your code, would github work?
        
       | palmfacehn wrote:
       | Ads don't offend me categorically. If publishers had text links,
       | plain banners or any combination of content that added up to
       | around 100kb sans images, I would probably consume more of their
       | content and occasionally click an ad.
       | 
       | Video interstitials, paywalls or modal dialogs asking me to allow
       | megabytes of tracking requests are a deal breaker. Anything that
       | annoys or slows me down is more expensive than the value of the
       | content, which I typically want to skim.
       | 
       | The content is rarely worth it. As it concerns Reuters, the same
       | content will be parroted and recycled elsewhere. Legacy media is
       | tone deaf from editorial policy to the nuts and bolts of how
       | content is displayed.
        
       | kristopolous wrote:
       | From all evidence, this is probably pretty accessible for the
       | blind. Thanks
        
       | brokegrammer wrote:
       | That's how news websites are supposed to look like. It's not good
       | for revenue though, because there's no way to trick the user into
       | clicking ads, nor dive into mindless scrolling.
       | 
       | I wonder if it would be possible to align revenue generation with
       | user experience, instead of both goals being incompatible with
       | each other.
        
         | usr1106 wrote:
         | Possible yes, users would need to pay with money.
         | 
         | Successful much less. Most users happily open bloat sites and
         | pay with their privacy and being manipulated.
        
           | oneeyedpigeon wrote:
           | I would argue it's "begrudgingly" rather than "happily".
        
           | bachmeier wrote:
           | > Most users happily open bloat sites and pay with their
           | privacy and being manipulated.
           | 
           | You can use bloat sites and pay with your privacy and be
           | manipulated for free or you can pay for the experience, but
           | you'll be using bloat sites and pay with your privacy and be
           | manipulated no matter what.
        
         | ahmedfromtunis wrote:
         | > That's how news websites are supposed to look like.
         | 
         | No, news websites don't have to be this sterile.
         | 
         | I think NYT is a prime example of how to merge classic text-
         | based articles with multimedia content in a way that's
         | beneficial to the consumer.
        
           | anthk wrote:
           | Use either Dillo or Netsurf with NYT and then we well talk.
           | 
           | JS and ad bloat made HTML5 video and audio tags rendered null
           | with no actual usage IRL.
        
             | casey2 wrote:
             | There is still plenty of design space between no JS and
             | Carter licking his lips on the front page.
        
             | ahmedfromtunis wrote:
             | Just like how I don't try to run the latest edition of
             | Flight Simulator on my 4-GB, GPU-less device; I also don't
             | try to visit websites built with latest web features using
             | browsers that are clearly not trying to support those
             | features.
             | 
             | NYT doesn't have to hinder its innovative efforts to create
             | informative content just because of a couple of folks who
             | refuse to admit that tech evolves over time.
             | 
             | I understand that ads can be annoying, and for that I use
             | ad blockers where necessary; but for everything else, I
             | appreciate the advancements in the web tech capabilities
             | that enable the creation of amazing stuff.
        
               | oneeyedpigeon wrote:
               | > I also don't try to visit websites built with latest
               | web features using browsers that are clearly not trying
               | to support those features.
               | 
               | But good websites will let you, that's the point.
        
               | ahmedfromtunis wrote:
               | I find the nyt's website far more informative and way
               | easier to use and navigate than this.
               | 
               | So why is neuter a good website while nyt's isn't?
        
               | oneeyedpigeon wrote:
               | Well, tbf, I'm speculating based on the evidence
               | provided. But, _if_ NYT provides a poor--or non-existent
               | --experience to anyone, for example, without JavaScript
               | enabled, then it fits my definition of  "bad".
        
         | flessner wrote:
         | Most user will probably want images, slightly more styling and
         | recommendations on what to read next... other than that it's a
         | perfectly usable website for the everyday user, something that
         | can't be said about most news sites today, sadly.
         | 
         | I mean who even reads ad-spam websites in the first place? They
         | used to host little bits of knowledge you'd search for... now I
         | can reach that better via ChatGPT (eg. How to do mission X in
         | video game Y)
         | 
         | I can only imagine... I read some well crafted news, no ads, no
         | malicious tracking, no ad-blocker-blocker popup, no newsletter
         | popup - and at end of the article: "This experience was great
         | because we're supported by XYZ company, they have no control of
         | our editorial process" (with company logo). Tasteful, still
         | supported by ads, probably completely unsustainable.
        
       | l3x wrote:
       | Similar (official):
       | 
       | - lite.cnn.com
       | 
       | - text.npr.org
       | 
       | Unofficial:
       | 
       | - 68k.news
       | 
       | - skinnyguardian.xyz
       | 
       | ... I'm sure there are plenty more!
        
         | anthk wrote:
         | Sadly https://68k.news it's broken.
         | 
         | But you can alwyas either use gopher://magical.fish/1/news
         | under Lynx or Dillo with the Gopher plugin or head to
         | 
         | http://portal.mozz.us/gopher/magical.fish/1/news
         | 
         | under any browser, even the ancient ones from the Netscape 4
         | era.
        
         | sitzkrieg wrote:
         | https://brutalist.report/
         | 
         | combines many sites
        
         | dublinben wrote:
         | Also CBC.ca/lite as well.
        
       | shikck200 wrote:
       | Some issues with pagination. I would recommend a non limit offset
       | combo. Right now i get an error: "You tried to access /world/"
       | when manually change the offset.
        
       | theanonymousone wrote:
       | Does anyone know about the legal implications of building such a
       | "fronted"? Doesn't Reuters own the copyright zo the contents of
       | their news articles? Can't they send a Cease & Desist (or worse)
       | to the developer, given they are potentially losing some ad
       | revenue?
       | 
       | Or they can and simply don't bother?
        
         | cbg0 wrote:
         | If your alternative becomes popular they will sic their lawyers
         | on you.
        
         | donohoe wrote:
         | Yes, it's copyright infringement.
         | 
         | Yes, they can send a C&D to whomever is hosting the copies of
         | their content.
         | 
         | Yes, they are losing some minor potential ad income.
         | 
         | They will likely bother if their legal department notices and
         | thinks it rises to a level they must contend with. My guess is
         | that it won't.
        
           | theanonymousone wrote:
           | Thanks. Is there some rule of thumb about how much should the
           | article change so that the copyright doesn't apply any more?
           | These points come to my mind:
           | 
           | - There is a whole category of software called "news
           | aggregators". Are they all infringers? How can they operate,
           | apart from praying that the news outlet doesn't care?
           | 
           | - News outlets quote each other, e.g. "According to Reuters",
           | etc. Does that solve the copyright issue? Is it only the 100%
           | verbatim copy that is copyrighted?
           | 
           | Many thanks already for the insights.
        
             | manfre wrote:
             | Aggregators are references to content. Frontends are
             | copies. You can't sidestep copyright with a "according to
             | Reuters" preamble for the entire article text.
        
             | layer8 wrote:
             | The rules are country-specific. For the US, see https://en.
             | wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use#U.S._fair_use_factors. There is
             | no simple rule of thumb.
        
       | wgx wrote:
       | Is there a viable way for me to make every site load like this
       | (iOS)? And optimally toggle back to the "full site" if I want to.
        
         | sunshadow wrote:
         | I can make this in couple of weeks, but I need an incentive
         | other than just having fun
        
         | szszrk wrote:
         | Firefox reading mode? It won't work with all sites, though. A
         | lot of large sites are insanely broken, so Firefox doesn't
         | propose reading mode at all, or nothing loads.
         | 
         | Honestly, I have only one way with dealing with those: not
         | using those sites.
        
         | walterbell wrote:
         | For individual websites on iOS, click the "aA" icon:
         | Website Settings > Show Reader Automatically
         | 
         | For every website on iOS:                 Settings > Safari >
         | Settings for Websites > Reader > Other Websites
        
       | sunshadow wrote:
       | What made you use caddy in front of tiny-http? I guess tiny-http
       | should be still fine on its own. genuinely curious
        
         | lemagedurage wrote:
         | Likely for its letsencrypt integration, maybe for HTTP/2 or
         | HTTP/3
        
       | anthk wrote:
       | What I'd love it's either a public Web Rendering Proxy or
       | Browservice.
        
       | casey2 wrote:
       | Awesome site, but it just made me realize that Reuters can't
       | capture my mind share. Most of these articles can't even be used
       | for small talk
       | 
       | Also I clicked on a few 301s in a row
        
       | oneeyedpigeon wrote:
       | No feed?
        
       | HelloUsername wrote:
       | Related: "Libredirect" Addon to redirect certain websites to
       | privacy friendly front ends
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32916318
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32288732
       | 
       | Also "Redirector"
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29665373
       | 
       | On Safari iOS you could try "Stop The Madness"
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31625804
        
       | uncomplexity_ wrote:
       | man i love the cleanliness
       | 
       | sounded like a vasectomy site though haha
        
       | klibertp wrote:
       | TIL: Reuters has a REST API:
       | https://www.reuters.com/pf/api/v3/content/fetch/articles-by-...
       | 
       | But I can't find any reference for it, somehow. How did the
       | author know how to write this
       | https://github.com/HookedBehemoth/neuters/tree/master/src/ap... ?
        
         | insin wrote:
         | You can see calls to it in the dev tools Network tab when
         | browsing Reuters.
        
       | quinncom wrote:
       | Very cool! I've added the following as a redirect in Kagi:
       | 
       | ^https://(www\\.)?reuters\\.com|https://neuters.de
        
       | mzd348 wrote:
       | Looks like you've basically created an RSS frontend for
       | reuters.com. Which is useful since they seem to have got rid of
       | their own feeds. Would be nice if you could add your own feed so
       | that neuters is actually readable via RSS.
        
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       (page generated 2024-12-30 23:01 UTC)