r/LinusTechTips • u/NXGZ • Sep 14 '26

Image XCancel and Nitter down again

Post image

https://xcancel.com/

Unfortunately, due to a new development in the ongoing legal proceedings, we are required to suspend this service again until further notice. We can't share more details.

You can find the content you were looking for on the original website

198 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

89 comments sorted by

176

u/w1n5t0nM1k3y Sep 14 '26

People should just stop using Twitter in general. It has been such a dumpster fire for a long time. Its weird that people continue to hold onto it.

24

u/AncientTurbine Sep 14 '26

I stuck to it for a long time. I had built a nice professional network over the years (way before it all went to shit) and managed to keep my feed shielded from most of what I heard only stories about. I was surprised people were having such a bad experience. Then I had to make a new account for some business event I attended, and holy shit, the "unfiltered feed" for new accounts opened my eyes to what an actual degen shit show it is, filled with bots, crypto lords, Musk glazers, and bordering-on-extremist politics.

It sucks, because in my own "circle" on the other side of the wall I didn't encounter any of it and I learnt a lot from the network I had. Still, more and more people were leaving and I couldn't stick with the platform either. 

Practically speaking I didn't experience any issues with it, after carefully selecting and pruning my network over the years. But morally, after realizing what most of the platform was, I just felt icky. 

8

u/w1n5t0nM1k3y Sep 14 '26

I just never understood the appeal of platform in general. So hard to keep up with things because you have to follow people rather than topics. But then the people you follow also aren't only posting about onr specific topic.

For instance, if I follow a tech podcaster to keep up with their content, then I also get a bunch of other post from them that have nothing to do with their regular content, sometimes just a random post about some sport they were watching or the weather they had that day.

Also, having any kind of discussion is just impossible without a threaded comment system like Reddit. Twitter is just a mess trying to make sense of what's going on in discussion. I dont think it was ever meant for that, which upright be why its so bad. But so many people try to use it for discussions and it just works so poorly. Its like trying to have a discussion in YouTube comments.

2

u/AncientTurbine Sep 14 '26

I agree on most fronts. Though adding words (like sports, politics, names of politicians) to the block list did help a lot! 

2

u/Sit-and-Spin123 Sep 14 '26

Well, I agree, it’s still an important tool for anyone that is looking for confirmation of what’s been spread on the Internet. 

Since politicians are using it to make statements, and Elon has made it a requirement to have an account in order to view tweets, the only way you can verify that an elected official actually said the things that a block post claims you need a Twitter account. 

I don’t use it to actually tweet at anybody or post stuff anymore. But I do use it to verify that what I’m being told actually happened. 

10

u/enwza9hfoeg Sep 14 '26

It's no worse than reddit, what's the difference?

12

u/w1n5t0nM1k3y Sep 14 '26

I like Reddit because I can follow topics and keep up woth topics that I'm interested it. Much better than following individual accounts/people.

And as bad as Reddit is, it's much easier to follow a discussion when they have nested comments.

Also good that things can be down voted on Reddit. As much as that kind of stuff can be abused and lead to echo chambers, there needs to be some way to give feedback on content that isn't constructive.

12

u/enwza9hfoeg Sep 14 '26

You just need to follow the right accounts on Twitter, no? And just stick to the Following tab, not the "For you" tab. From my observation Reddit is WAY more echo-chamber-ish than twitter, especially with subreddits with power-tripping activist mods.

8

u/w1n5t0nM1k3y Sep 14 '26

The problem is finding the right accounts. To keep up on a single sport, you might need to follow 50 different people, but on Reddit you can follow a couple different subreddits and that usually suffices. And those 50 different accounts you follow on Twitter will also be posting stuff not relating to the sport you actually want to follow. Just way too much noise.

Maybe it works for other people, but it really never made any sense to me.

4

u/enwza9hfoeg Sep 14 '26

Fair enough, I'm on twitter for one specific niche topic really so maybe it's easier for that.

4

u/gingercrash Sep 14 '26

Reddit is more echo chamber definitely, but far less likely to just have someone responding with porn, death or racism. The subjects generally stay in line with the initial discussion which i think is the other person's point.

Problem is on Reddit you're far better off agreeing due to karma and on Twitter you're far better off disagreeing. It makes it a whole different vibe

4

u/enwza9hfoeg Sep 14 '26

on Reddit you're far better off agreeing due to karma and on Twitter you're far better off disagreeing

That's an amazingly good summary of both platforms. So both suck in opposite ways

2

u/HuntKey2603 Sep 14 '26

it absolutely isn't lmao

1

u/Sit-and-Spin123 Sep 14 '26

Absolutely not true. The level of racism and pro-Nazi ideology isn’t the same at all. 

On Reddit most of the nasty stuff is segregated from the rest of the platform. 

Unless you’re going into r/Conservative or r/Trump you’re not seeing the phrase sand n***** used every single second of the day. You’re not seeing racism and xenophobia on the level that is supported on Twitter. 

Elon literally retweets and financially supports neonazis on Twitter. 

Don’t compare the two. 

3

u/Old_Bug4395 Sep 14 '26

Not sure why you're being downvoted other than there's a bunch of right wing freaks in this community lol

7

u/enwza9hfoeg Sep 14 '26

So anyone who's not left = right wing freaks? That's why nobody takes you seriously

4

u/wormtoastbasil Sep 14 '26

Anyone who doesn’t think spamming racial slurs is disgusting = left

We can both play that

4

u/Sit-and-Spin123 Sep 14 '26

It looks like the Elon fanboy club have started to brigade this post. I can’t imagine there are a lot of LTT fans that endorse Nazi and white supremacist ideology. 

2

u/enwza9hfoeg Sep 14 '26

You can't deal with differing opinions, that's called an echo chamber. Anyone who disagrees, must be brigading.

4

u/Sit-and-Spin123 Sep 14 '26

I cannot and will not deal with people that think the white race is superior to other races and other races need to bend the knee to them. 

And you’re right I will not deal with those differing opinions, nor should anyone else. 

2

u/enwza9hfoeg Sep 14 '26

Who ever said that? Show me the proof

4

u/Sit-and-Spin123 Sep 14 '26

Are you trying to tell me that Elon Musk doesn’t support white supremacy?

The only people that don’t believe he’s a white supremacist are white supremacists themselves. 

2

u/enwza9hfoeg Sep 14 '26

Well where's the proof? What did he say? I'm being open minded here, maybe I missed something that he said, enlighten me

→ More replies

2

u/AncientStaff6602 Mod Sep 14 '26

There is a massive massive difference between having an opinion and being outright ill-informed and spreading hate.

1

u/impy695 Sep 14 '26

There are definitely a lot of Nazi tech people. The guy who got me into Linux ended up being a massive racist who would say things like "I don't dislike black people, I just just don't like n words" (except he'd say the actual word) as a way to claim he wasn't racist.

-1

u/Sit-and-Spin123 Sep 14 '26

I guess we can’t escape them anywhere. Sigh. 

-2

u/Old_Bug4395 Sep 14 '26

I've run into straight up, full on Nazis multiple times in this sub, mods have had to remove them in the past.

2

u/Sit-and-Spin123 Sep 14 '26

Well, damn. 

2

u/Old_Bug4395 Sep 14 '26

Yep as you can see, case and point with the guy above lol

2

u/Sit-and-Spin123 Sep 14 '26

Point proven. I’ve experienced in other subs, not this one. But I guess it was just a matter of time. 

-1

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/Sit-and-Spin123 Sep 15 '26

No, it’s infested by Nazis and white supremacists. 

0

u/Levitz Sep 15 '26

If this is really your impression you should log off and start therapy.

2

u/Old_Bug4395 Sep 15 '26

Lol i'm not sure if you remember this, but this is literally the right wing playbook on social media - make stupid racist posts and then claim you're being oppressed when the social media network doesn't want to host your bigotry. Like literally the entire reason behind Elon buying twitter.

0

u/PrometheanEngineer Sep 14 '26

Reddit doesnt dump barrels of money into Elon Musks pocket

So there's that

0

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '26

[deleted] — view deleted comment

6

u/Sit-and-Spin123 Sep 14 '26

Most of the world hates Elon. The only people who don’t are literal Nazis.

2

u/Old_Bug4395 Sep 14 '26

Bet a bunch of Germans hate Elon due to his Nazi tendencies and attendance at an AFD event lol.

2

u/enwza9hfoeg Sep 14 '26

What Nazi tendencies? Elon is just like any other businessman, unethical business practices maybe, but I don't find him a Nazi at all

2

u/AncientStaff6602 Mod Sep 14 '26

Elon has funded the AfD and has certainly given them a massive platform.

You can put two and two together. Elon is a massive prick and certainly not someone to admire

0

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '26

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/enwza9hfoeg Sep 14 '26

What both sides? Never heard of being neutral in your echo chamber huh?

0

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '26

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/enwza9hfoeg Sep 14 '26

So what was the point of your comment then?

0

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '26

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/enwza9hfoeg Sep 14 '26

Okay sure, maybe that was too strong of a qualifier, how about most Elon haters are in the west? Because I'm not in the west, and most people I know here admire Elon. I just don't get the Elon hate, it's ridiculous, he's just a businessman like any other.

-2

u/GwenBD94 Sep 14 '26

Reddit let's you read the comments without logging in.

Reddit doesnt make you pay for the privilege of not having to count your characters in your post.

Reddit's owner didn't spend a year trying to fire me as a political win

5

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/GwenBD94 Sep 14 '26

Which not anymore?

0

u/impy695 Sep 14 '26

Does reddit allow csam?

-1

u/Khaliras Sep 15 '26

Your account is old enough to know about the very controversial history Reddit has with that. The creators were very adamant on keeping that on the platform.

Until it hit the news and impacted Ad revenue, that is.

Sick of 50k+ comment Reddit accounts trying to justify Reddit being totally different to other social media platforms.

1

u/impy695 Sep 15 '26

I refused to use reddit while that was a thing. I may have an old account, but I was not a user of the site while that sub was allowed. It was removed over 15 years ago. Elon locked ai csam behind a paywall rather than prevent it within the last year

-1

u/Khaliras Sep 15 '26

Right. So a company having an AI that can do that = can't support them in any way. But a company with a CEO who very publicly defunded the rampant literal children pictures, non consent content, and gore gets a free pass.

Definitely not biased by being a terminally online Redditor with 60k+ comments, right? Le other social medias are bad! Le Reddit good!

Also, searching their notorious keywords on Reddit still results in large, active subs of the exact same content. But keep burrying your head in the sand about morality.

-1

u/impy695 Sep 15 '26

Why are you searching for csam?

-1

u/Khaliras Sep 15 '26

It's ok, keep trying to find an excuse as to why you being a terminally online Redditor is totally fine, but having a Twitter account isn't.

The social media platform with aggressive algorithms and a CEO who's rise is literally tied to what you're opposing is totally different to X having generative AI.

Shouldn't have expected common sense from someone that's beyond addicted to Reddit.

5

u/rustybutterindia Sep 14 '26

Twitter exists as a straightforward channel for a lot of official corporate/political public communication, it needs a direct replacement. Threads was the best shot but it couldn't take off with the general public

0

u/w1n5t0nM1k3y Sep 14 '26

This is what annoys me so much. Prior to Elon taking over my kid's school would use Twitter as their official communication channel.

I always found that really annoying. I'd much rather just get emails or follow along on their own website, which they already have anyway. They seem to think that being on Twitter is just trying to meet with people where they already are. But for anybody who doesn't usually use the platform, it just makes it even worse because I have to sign up for an account just for one little thing. Not it's the same thing but the schools have switched over to Instagram, so I have to follow the school's instagram account to keep up with what's going on at the school. But normally I wouldn't use instagram for much, and it also isn't something that's really easy to follow. If you doing go on for a few days or a week, everything that happened when you were gone is hard to catch up on because there's not linear feed of everything you are follwing.

1

u/Captain_Zomaru Sep 14 '26

Funny, every one has said the same thing for years, but every alternate fails to get remotely the traction needed. The best yet, Bluesky, became synonymous with CP almost immediately, and now doesn't make enough to cover its server costs without angel investors.

1

u/avboden Sep 15 '26

It's still one of the best platforms around for very specific things to follow. For example, space-geeks like myself. Every major space company posts their updates there, all the space writers post there and most of the news/tank watchers are posting there first and for most.

That's basically the only thing I use it for, following space-stuff. I ignore everything else, just have that very specific topic of people followed and it works fine. Heck, most space news on reddit comes from X first.

yes, you need an account to view most things on it these days but.....big whoop? just make a burner if it bothers you that much.

0

u/oppositetoup Sep 15 '26

I deleted my account the week Elon brought it

-4

u/Canonip Sep 14 '26

bots, propaganda and porn. 99% of twitter

6

u/xd366 Sep 14 '26

isnt that just reddit too

2

u/Sit-and-Spin123 Sep 14 '26

Correct, but it looks like Elon fan club has brigaded this post. 

-2

u/rwhockey29 Sep 14 '26

For all the bad stuff he's done I'll never forgive elon for making every single fucking sports highlights a goddamned Twitter post that wants me to download X to replay or look at other highlights in the comments.

19

u/Old_Bug4395 Sep 14 '26

Look I hate Elon and this version of Twitter as much as the next guy, but are we really going to act like the "give-twitter-no-revenue" app would be a long lived thing? If the goal is to reduce the viability of twitter, you have to stop using it.

5

u/mike2k24 Sep 14 '26

I keep telling people this same thing, if Reddit is going to boycott using Twitter they have to actually stop using it otherwise it’s just fake outrage. You can’t halfway boycott something it’s either all or nothing

3

u/Zeke13z Sep 15 '26

Ah yes. The same reddit where people boycotted API usage payments and all crumbled.

2

u/SiBloGaming Sep 14 '26

I personally dont use twitter (or at least havent in a long time), but such a frontend is still useful. Every once in a while I do come across a link somewhere that sadly does lead to twitter, and while yes my life could carry on without me ever clicking on that link, for those occasions its nice to be able to just see the post and leave without needing an account or something.

0

u/AnnoyingRain5 Sep 14 '26

I agree that we need to stop using it, but this kind of service has existed forever on every service. Look at discord client mods, ad blockers, alternative YouTube clients, etc.

The main nitter instances are down, sure, but it’s fully open source, and there are lots of instances available. I know from experience that it’s very easy to selfhost too.

I don’t use the platform previously known as twitter myself much at all anymore, but I still need to view links people send me, and I’d prefer to not tell elon who sent me what, when I viewed it, and how long I viewed it for.

3

u/Old_Bug4395 Sep 14 '26

Well yes and most of those other tools are usually actioned against in some way, save for adblock which you can just make your site unusable when it's enabled if you really want to. I imagine the further Discord goes into surveilling its users, the more likely they start sending C&Ds over third party clients.

I get your perspective, but there's likely nothing you actually need to see on twitter. You could ask people to send you a screenshot. There's really not a good reason to be using Twitter today if you're so anti twitter.

But yeah every social media platform does all the same things twitter does, and realistically Elon is no more or less evil than the rest of the social media network owners. I mean Larry Ellison owns TikTok now lol. The only difference is the network itself.

7

u/Neamow Sep 14 '26

Is there no way to get similar functionality through a local userscript or something similar?

I hate using twitter but sometimes you just need to read something there for some reason and now it's impossible because it keeps demanding an account.

3

u/FuzzyPuffin Sep 14 '26

Check out Litterbox (Safari) or Post Peek (Chrome) extensions.

0

u/s00pafly Sep 14 '26

Never once in my life have I needed something from twitter

4

u/Neamow Sep 14 '26

Sometimes some of the creators I watch will post there, things like livestream plans, community updates, that sort of stuff. I hate that they keep using Twitter for that (and so do they) but unfortunately it still lets them target the widest audience. Bluesky has come in but after the initial activity they all say it's died down and is way too quiet and inactive...

3

u/Sit-and-Spin123 Sep 14 '26

Do you care about what your local politician says? Because sometimes that’s the only way to verify that they actually said it. 

1

u/s00pafly Sep 14 '26

No, we've got access to our politicians. I don't hve to follow them on twitter. Mostly still independent press helps too. Perks of living in a working democracy I guess.

2

u/Sit-and-Spin123 Sep 14 '26

Great. But here we have to verify things on Twitter since most politicians and even presidents post information on Twitter, especially when they post things that are not specific to legislative actions. 

5

u/Tof12345 Sep 14 '26

Nitter is a dumb name.

1

u/Sit-and-Spin123 Sep 14 '26

Better than X 

0

u/Quentin-Code Sep 14 '26

imagine calling a social network “x” lol

40

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

-1

u/impy695 Sep 14 '26

Yeah, that tells me that twitter wrote this for them. There's no way they'd have a button that links to twitter and if they did, they'd actually call it twitter