Ladder

Dev tools

paywall bypass proxy

SHOW HN2023

Legend

Ladder

Ladder, open source alternative to 12ft.io and 1ft.io

github.com

#paywall bypass#open source#golang proxy#12ft alternative

377points
150comments
#91of 3,109 in 2023
Top 3%of 2023 by points

How HN took it

CuriousMostly questions and neutral comments

3 positive, 13 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 7 critical, out of 24 comments about the project. Thread score -0.05.

Idea: 1 for, 3 againstPerformance: 0 for, 3 againstExecution: 0 for, 1 against

The thread, comment by comment

Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.

positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker

What HN said

What people liked

  • Easy to set up and useful for reading paywalled articles

    From 1 comment
    • Really great and easy to use. I was trying to read an article that was on the front page of HN and couldn't due to paywall. Downloaded the binary and was reading it within 30…
      cooper_ganglia on HN
  • Customizable rules and faster than Python-based 13ft

    From 1 comment
    • I did try 13ft. But it misses several points. The ladder applies custom rules to inject code. It basically modifies the origin website to remove the Paywall. It rewrites (most…
      2cpu1container on HN

Objections

  • Performance not working on many paywalled sites like Bloomberg and WSJ

    From 1 comment
    • The docker image, and on the upside is fairly easy to get running. But I'm downside, I'm zero for two actually using it. I tried a Bloomberg article which gave me a "suspicious…
      nfriedly on HN
  • Legal concerns around circumventing paywalls and DMCA

    From 1 comment
    • I don't know for sure, but I would imagine there are more severe actions taken against circumventing paid material (content behind a paywall) than there is for free content…
      bilekas on HN

Requests

  • More default rulesets for common sites

    From 1 comment
    • Yes, the one i provide is still pretty empty yet. I plan to build one that can be used as a starting point or as a default.
      2cpu1container on HN

Questions

  • Whether rulesets must be written per site

    From 1 comment
    • I'm very new to this kind of service, but do you have to write your own rulesets for each site you want to bypass? The repo doesn't seem to include much...
      fyzix on HN
  • Whether bypassing paywalls is illegal

    From 1 comment
    • The README says "The author does not endorse or encourage any unethical or illegal activity." Is it actually illegal anywhere to bypass a paywall?
      gumby on HN

Alternatives named

  • 12ft.io

    From 1 comment
    • For folks like me who have no idea what 12ft.io or 1ft.io are, they appear to be services for bypassing paywalls on websites.
      fader on HN
  • Bypass Paywalls Clean browser extension

    From 1 comment
    • > these features should be part of a browser extension You mean like Bypass Paywall Clean? https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-chrome-clean
      sva_ on HN
  • archive.is

    From 1 comment
    • Create a browser book mark and set this as the URL of the bookmark: javascript:window.location.href="https://archive.is/latest/"+location.href It will usually open up the…
      KoftaBob on HN
  • 13ft

    From 1 comment
    • I did try 13ft. But it misses several points. The ladder applies custom rules to inject code. It basically modifies the origin website to remove the Paywall. It rewrites (most…
      2cpu1container on HN

Category, keywords, summaries and labels on this page were made by AI (Thread Reader v2) and not checked by hand. Each point links to the comments it came from.

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