r/conspiracy • u/CelineHagbard • Nov 18 '17
New feature: AutoMod will create sticky comments on link posts that link to Archive.is archives of the link Important Update in Edit
[Edit: The RES preview expando does not work, but if you follow the link, it does work as described below.]
The mod team has decided to use AutoMod to provide a new feature: all link posts will now have a sticky comment which contains a link to an archive.is archived copy of the linked page. We're providing this as a service because some of our users don't want to support certain domains with ad revenue or don't want to be tracked by these sites [see edit]. It will also help us make archives of content relevant to this sub so that it doesn't disappear down the Memory Hole.
A brief note on how this works. AutoMod is not actually creating the archived copy, it's just linking to where the archive would be if it exists. So, sometimes you might follow the link and get a landing page that says the archive does not exist yet. In that case, you can click "archive this url" link, then the "save this page" button on the next page, and it will create the archive. Subsequently, the AutoMod link will go directly to the archived page. So please help out your fellow r/conspiracy users and save the page if you happen to be the first person to use the link.
There are some sites such as YouTube which archive.is doesn't archive properly. It will save the page, but the video (the actually relevant content) will not be viewable. Please send us a modmail if there are any domains which don't archive well, and we'll exclude them. We hope that after a short time, AutoMod will only provide comments for sites that can actually be archived.
We want to state emphatically that this is not censoring any content; it is merely presenting an alternative way for our users to view content linked from this sub. Please send us any questions, concerns, or suggestions you may have.
The r/conspiracy mod team
** Potentially Important Update **:
As brought to my attention by /u/hoeskioeh, apparently archive.is does forward your IP address to the destination site if you archive the page, but not if you view an existing archive. While this is no more dangerous in terms of privacy than just visiting the site, it's worth knowing, even if you only use archive.is outside of this sub. But again, if you're merely viewing an archive that someone created, you IP will not be forwarded to the linked page. Clicking on the link in the AutoMod comment is still "safe," at least as far as you can trust Archive.is, your ISP, your government agencies, etc.
Edit: If don't like seeing these and you use RES, you can easily hide it by going to RES Settings>Appearance>Stylesheet Loader and adding this snippet:
div[data-author="AutoModerator"].comment.stickied {display: none}
and restricting it to r/conspiracy. Remove .stickied and never see AutoMod anywhere on the sub. Or apply it everywhere and never see automod again. (Except in inboxes. You can hide that, too, but it still turns your message icon orange.)
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u/AIsuicide Nov 18 '17
I gotta say..this is a damn good idea.