had a minor crisis when 12ft.io went down yesterday and thankfully it's back now but this seems like a good opportunity to compile a list of similar paywall-evading tools in case 12ft ever gets canned for real:
12ft.io: the legend himself. definitely my favorite of the bunch by virtue of being the easiest to use (and the easiest url to remember), but it's configured to disable paywall evasion for a handful of popular sites like the new york times, so you'll have to go elsewhere for those.
printfriendly: works great; never had any issues with removing paywalls, even on domains that don't work with 12ft.io. since this site is literally designed to make sites print-friendly, it might simplify the overall formatting of the page you're trying to access, which can be a good or bad thing. my only real issue is that the "element zapper" (which lets you remove content blocks from the print-friendly preview) is a little sensitive if you're browsing on a touchscreen device, which means you might accidentally delete a paragraph when you're just trying to scroll. but if that happens you can reload the page and it'll revert everything back to its original state.
fifteen feet: basically a 12ft clone, minus 12ft's restrictions. haven't used it much since I only discovered it yesterday in the wake of 12ft's 451 error but it seems to do the trick.
archive.today: an archival tool very similar to the wayback machine, but it also works as a de facto paywall removal tool. (the wayback machine seems to remove paywalls as well, but archive.today has better UX imo and is way faster to use.)
and an honorable mention for sci-hub: only works for scientific/academic journals, not random news articles, but the other sites listed above only work for random news articles and not academic publications so you gotta have this one in your toolbelt for full coverage. pubmed is your oyster.
no i don't want to use your ai assistant. no i don't want your ai search results. no i don't want your ai summary of reviews. no i don't want your ai feature in my social media search bar (???). no i don't want ai to do my work for me in adobe. no i don't want ai to write my paper. no i don't want ai to make my art. no i don't want ai to edit my pictures. no i don't want ai to learn my shopping habits. no i don't want ai to analyze my data. i don't want it i don't want it i don't want it i don't fucking want it i am going to go feral and eat my own teeth stop itttt
hey. if you are a queer/trans person who is feeling hopeless and overwhelmed by the election results, i just want to tell you this:
we have existed as long as humanity itself has existed. through every monarchy, every presidency, every dark age and revolution, queer people have existed. we have survived and lived and thrived and loved. in the face of an unwelcoming society, we have always carved out our own niches where we can find community, strength, and peace.
we survived 2004. we survived 2016 and 2020. we will survive this, too. i promise you.
please stay safe, take care of each other, and if you ever feel like it's over - i suggest reading about our queer elders and ancestors who lived through time periods that were even more dangerous and hostile. i always find strength and solidarity in their stories.
but most importantly: hold onto one another, build each other up, and love one another. we will get through this.
Interesting trend among transmascs & how terfs apply rhetoric to them that I've noticed:
If you are conventionally attractive and discuss taking hormones or getting surgery, terfs will lament that they can't keep losing beautiful women to the brainwashing of gender ideology and that you shouldn't transition because you're so beautiful and so good.
But if you're conventionally ugly and discuss taking hornones or getting surgery... terfs usually cut right to the "well you're just mentally ill and can't make decisions for yourself" or more immediately to the "well you just want to get ahead because being a woman is hard and difficult and being a man would be easier, gender traitor"
Why are pretty people afforded the "gentle*" rhetoric? Because terfs find them inherently more worth "saving" than the ugly people? Perhaps because terfs think that pretty people are inherently more "moral" and willing to listen to "reason?"
I just find it interesting that conventionally attractive people are treated differently than conventionally unattractive people. has anyone else noticed this? am i just crazy?
*this rhetoric is not gentle and is an act of violence against transmasculine people regardless of its intent. trying to detransition any transmasculine person for any reason that isn't that person's own desire to detransition is an act of violence.
crazy how people assume trans guys dont know if we had short naturally coloured hair and a basic style we'd "pass better." "you want tips on how to pass? no more fun piercings, jewelry, anything feminine, dyed hair, nail polish or nice things for you!" thanks but I choose joy and whimsy x
Erin Reed has presented a new version of her Anti-Trans Risk Assessment Map over at Erin in the Morning.
She writes:
The elections have tightened across the United States, and anti-trans ads have become a major part of the 2024 campaign cycle. As such, the risk has substantially raised for nationwide laws targeting transgender people in the coming years for both youth and adults. For states, the state of Texas has been upgraded to Do Not Travel, only the second state to receive such a recommendation. This comes as Odessa, Texas becomes the first city in the nation to pass a $10,000 bounty on transgender people inside of bathrooms.
Read the whole article here.
This Pride I hope that all of you never ever forget that no amount of sanitizing your sex life or sanding down of your LGBT edges will make bigots accept you. So, don’t debase yourself by capitulating an inch to them, especially in ways that throw your fellow community members under the bus.
*sighs like an old dog who narrowly dodged euthanasia yet something about its demeanor makes you feel like it knows this fact and something even more obscure makes you feel like it resents this
oh no! the black metal band i googled has a "controversy" section of their wikipedia page! oh no!
Comic by Mariam Naiem
I like to spend time with friends one-on-one. But lately there are three of us. [The silhouettes of the speaker and friend in each scene, except for the first, are always accompanied by a large humanoid shadow looming over them and listening in.] --- "In case something happens, finish my book, okay?" [my friend asked of me as we sat together] "Ok," [I said while the shadowy specter sat next to my friend.] --- "I don't have any plans for afterwards," [my friend in the military said as the specter stood behind them and we looked to the horizon.] --- "How are you?" [I asked as we knelt on either side of the flowers.] "Good! I went to the cemetery and laid an equal amount of flowers to all three of them." [The specter knelt behind my friend.] --- "I don't see my life after the war," [my friend in the military told me from across the table. The specter loomed over them and reached to touch them.] --- "I am sick of this! WHO ARE YOU? We didn't invite you," [I said, confronting the specter. It towered over me.] --- "Yes, you did not," [it acknowledged, revealing a scythe in its grasp and presenting a slip of paper to me.] --- 24.02.2022 INVITATION from Russia.
Text in brackets were added by me for accessibility purposes to help transcribe and describe the comic.
shit(and sometimes serious)posts of a 22yo trans man
389 posts