cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/1891205

About 8 months ago I got pretty tired of seeing billionaire spam online. I could not bear to read about yet another rich guy who launched themselves (or their $200,000 car) into outer space 🚀 . I did not care about their expert opinion on the latest meme coin back then. I do not care about their expert opinion on the dangers of AI today.

So… I developed a tiny, free, and open source Firefox browser add-on called “Block the Rich”. It is completely local and private. No data is tracked. No data is phoned home.

The concept is pretty simple: whenever I load a web page, the extension quickly analyzes the content and intelligently blurs out any references to the Forbes Top 10 Billionaires. Some former and wannabe billionaires are blurred out of courtesy as well (I’m looking at you Trump and Kanye 🙄).

This project is a very early prototype that I built in the span of a few days. I have so many awesome ideas for enhancements but the truth is that the wind got completely knocked out of my sails when I put myself out there on Reddit many moons ago. There was absolutely zero public interest. To this day my wife and I are the only ones using the original prototype.

People of Lemmy, do you think there is a place on the internet for such a project, or is it time that I let it go?

  • AMuscelidEnglish
    70•1 year ago

    The concept is hilarious and really presses the spite dopamine button in my brain.

  • JeenaEnglish
    56•1 year ago

    Damn, did you read what I wrote about 2 month ago?

    https://jeena.net/notes/1352
    I wish there was a browser plugin which would remove anything about Elon Musk from any website I’m visiting. Somehow his remarks are getting more and more stupid.

    It seems I asked the univerlse for something and it delivered! Thank you so much!

  • @[email protected]English
    35•1 year ago

    Don’t let the flame die, OP!! This is a really good idea for an add-on. I like what the other commenters said to add custom blocking and a per site restriction.

  • @[email protected]English
    29•1 year ago

    I really like it but if I could make one small suggestion, a small x in the corner to un-blur, sometimes I want to enjoy the dunking they are getting

  • @[email protected]English
    21•1 year ago

    I want this but for reality. And instead of blurring them, it burns them. Also, it goes way beyond the Forbes top 10, to every piece of shit with a useless giant SUV. Is it possible?

  • fearout
    17•1 year ago

    I think that expanding it to allow for custom blocking patterns will make it more appealing in general. Like being able to add your rich_person_of_choice to the list or the ability to block a company (Meta anyone?) might both be useful features.

    Not sure if it fits your plans though or how hard it’s going to be to implement.

  • finthechat
    16•1 year ago

    Fantastic idea. Does it allow the user to add their own filters?

    I’d really like to make my internet free of Mr Beast, that guy is so frickin annoying.

  • snoweEnglish
    16•1 year ago

    I’m definitely going to use this. I do not understand how people care about famous people at all. Can you extend the extension to apply to literally anything like it. I don’t care about celebrities, their babies, what they ate for lunch, etc.

  • StorksforlegsEnglish
    10•1 year ago

    Yes. Excellent!

    There used to be an extension that replaced trump images with cats. Can we also replace pictures of the rich (and famous) with images of baby animals? I don’t need to keep seeing their dumb faces everywhere.

  • @[email protected]English
    8•1 year ago

    It’s interesting, to say the least, but I feel like it’s missing a feature, or the concept is niche…

    What kind of user do you expect would download this? I am going to try it tomorrow to see if it changes anything

    • HousePantherEnglish
      7•1 year ago

      I’ve used it and it works well. I did file an issue with the author to suggest allowing a per-site restriction option because some sites, one may want to see such material. That much aside, it is a good plugin. I like it very much.

  • Fuck WorkEnglish
    7•1 year ago

    I love this idea. Will definitely look into installing on my desktop. I’m working on a searxng instance that filters out all the toxic sources that think they own the internet also. Its also very much a work in progress, but yeah, these putzes get too much attention on the internet and anything we can do for our own peace of mind to delete them from pur lives is absolutely worth doing. I put a lot of filters on mastodon to the same end and it has made my social media experience so much more enjoyable.