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?

Edit: I am blown away by the support from you all. Thank you! I am so excited to start polishing this baby up!

  • @ChiselerNeilEnglish
    15•1 year ago

    I can understand where you’re coming from in terms of PR circle-jerking, which I am beyond over, but it keeps getting pushed at me for some reason by content aggravators aggregators. But sometimes we need to know when the ultra-privileged are actively undermining things the rest of us depend on, or might depend on if they were ever allowed to exist. Those issues need as many eyeballs as possible. So how would you separate the one from the other?

    • @[email protected]OPEnglish
      7•1 year ago

      My solution is to block them from my consciousness by default. Then when I feel like catching up I’ll temporarily disable the plugin (I just added this feature). This way I can have the best of both worlds!

    • @FringeTheory999English
      3•1 year ago

      Well, while I acknowledge that it’s important to know what the rich are doing to undermine society, I like that the app would give me control over what I’m seeing, and when I see it. I think if it gives the option to unhide stuff so that I can digest it when I am best able to, than it is a good thing. Like a NSFW filter. It could just have a “show billionaire related content” button on it. Besides, if their mucking about is impacting something that’s important to you, it’ll probably be referenced in content you’re actively seeking.