Why did I build AmputatorBot?

https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ehrq3z/why_did_i_build_amputatorbot/

created by Killed_Mufasa on 30/12/2019 at 20:37 UTC*

2997 upvotes, 121 top-level comments (showing 25)

• *Table of contents** /[1] **Quick links**

1: https://preview.redd.it/7eqb5ssz1ey51.png?width=1702&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=becba527360f1883045f9dbba86f47a5f582e9fa

1. **About AMP and its controversies**

2. **AmputatorBot.com**[2]

3. **Subreddits**

4. **Summon AmputatorBot:**[3] u/AmputatorBot

5. **Opt out**[4]

6. **Open-sourced on GitHub**[5]

7. **API Documentation**[6]

8. Browser-extension (other party)[7]

9. **Give feedback / Report an issue**

10. **Changelog**[8]

11. **Sponsor (PayPal)**[9]

12. **Closing words**

1. About AMP and its controversies

AMP, originally Accelerated Mobile Pages, was announced[10] by Google in 2015 and is developed by AMP Open Source Project[11] in response to Facebook's Instant Articles and Apple News. Initially focused on speeding up mobile pages, AMP has evolved into a broader initiative to enhance user experience and content speed across various platforms. **It might sound like a well-intended effort on first glance, but it has mixed results and is not without controversy, criticism, and legal issues**. Let's dive in, shall we?

2: https://www.amputatorbot.com/

3: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/cchly3/you_can_now_summon_amputatorbot/

4: https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=amputatorbot&subject=opt%20me%20out%20of%20amputatorbot&message=Feel%20free%20to%20change%20this%20message%20content%20to%20include%20feedback%20but%20keep%20the%20subject%20exactly%20the%20same%20or%20the%20bot%20won%E2%80%99t%20work.%20Using%20this%20feature%20will%20only%20stop%20the%20bot%20from%20replying%20to%20your%20comments%20and%20submissions.%20If%20you%20don%27t%20want%20to%20see%20anything%20from%20AmputatorBot,%20block%20it%20instead.%20

5: https://github.com/KilledMufasa/AmputatorBot

6: https://documenter.getpostman.com/view/12422626/UVC3n93T

7: https://www.daniel.priv.no/web-extensions/amp2html.html

8: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ch9fxp/changelog_of_amputatorbot/

9: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=EU6ZFKTVT9VH2

10: https://blog.google/products/search/introducing-accelerated-mobile-pages/

11: https://github.com/ampproject

For five years, Google Search's **Top Stories carousel**[12], located prominently above all other results[13] , exclusively featured AMP pages on mobile devices. This placement generated a significant number of clicks[14] and, according to Google, revenue for publishers. As a result, many publishers felt compelled to adopt AMP, only to be surprised by a *decline* in their advertising revenue[15] [2][16].

12: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/guides/about-amp#initial-display

13: https://love2dev.com/img/google_amp_capture_2-958x552.png

14: https://newsdashboard.com/en/do-you-need-to-be-indexed-in-google-news-to-appear-in-the-news-boxes/

15: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.564903/gov.uscourts.nysd.564903.152.0_1.pdf

16: https://wptavern.com/unredacted-antitrust-complaint-unsealed-google-internal-documents-show-amp-pages-brought-40-less-revenue-to-publishers

In July 2021, after facing public and legal pressure[17], Google dropped this AMP-exclusive requirement. But the damage was already done. As Barry Adams pointed out[18], there were countless publishers who were sidelined simply because they didn't use AMP.

17: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.564903/gov.uscourts.nysd.564903.152.0_1.pdf

18: https://www.seoforgooglenews.com/p/lets-talk-about-amp

There was **no other reason** for Google to stop ranking these publishers in their mobile Top Stories carousel. As is evident from the surge of non-AMP articles[19], there are likely hundreds - if not thousands - of publishers who **ticked every single ranking box** that Google demanded; quality news content, easily crawlable and indexable technology stack, good editorial authority signals, and so on.

But they didn’t use AMP. So Google didn’t rank them.

Think for a moment about the cost of that. How many visits these publishers didn’t get, simply because they didn’t accept Google’s blackmail. How much revenue these publishers lost because of that. How many jobs were affected. The compromises some have had to make just to survive. The ones that didn’t survive.

Just because Google demanded we embrace their pet AMP project.

19: https://www.newzdash.com/guide/amp-tracker

And don't be fooled, AMP *is* a pet-project by Google. Despite AMP's assimilation into the OpenJS Foundation[20] in 2019, many skeptics regard the move as merely superficial. These suspicions seem justified in hindsight.

20: https://wptavern.com/amp-project-joins-openjs-foundation

• Renowned developer and web standards advocate, Jeremy Keith, resigned from the AMP Advisory Committee[21] in August 2021, highlighting[22] that "it has become clear to me that AMP remains a Google product".
• Nine out of the top ten[23] contributors to the AMP project on GitHub are Google employees
• The attempt to brand AMP as 'open source' has been criticized as misleading[24]. As Ferdy Christant eloquently stated[25]: "[AMP being open source] isn’t just a weak defense, it’s no defense at all. I can open source a plan for genocide. The term “open source” is meaningless if the thing that is open source is harmful".

These points fuel the debate on the independence of AMP. Further concerns arise due to some of AMP's design decisions.

21: https://adactio.com/journal/18350

22: https://wptavern.com/jeremy-keith-resigns-from-amp-advisory-committee-it-has-become-clear-to-me-that-amp-remains-a-google-product

23: https://github.com/ampproject/amphtml/graphs/contributors

24: https://wptavern.com/jeremy-keith-resigns-from-amp-advisory-committee-it-has-become-clear-to-me-that-amp-remains-a-google-product

25: https://ferdychristant.com/amp-the-missing-controversy-3b424031047

• For instance, when a user navigates to a cached AMP page, either via Google Search or a shared link, they unwittingly stay within Google’s ecosystem, as the original publisher’s domain is obscured by the google.com/amp prefix.
• To address this, Google introduced Signed HTTP Exchanges ([Draft][26], [1][27], [2][28]), a web standard enabling browsers to display the original site's URL rather than the actual one with the google.com prefix.
• However, this solution obfuscates the fact that the visited page is delivered by Google and has been deemed problematic by industry peers. Both Mozilla and Apple have criticized it as a harmful web standard[29] [2][30], [3][31]. In contrast, Google's own browser, Chrome, *does* support this technology [1][32], [2][33].

This forms a **pattern revealing Google's self-serving approach: it appears to take actions that serve its interests, irrespective of external opinions**.

26: https://wicg.github.io/webpackage/draft-yasskin-http-origin-signed-responses.html#rfc.section.6

27: https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2018/11/signed-exchanges

28: https://amp.dev/documentation/guides-and-tutorials/optimize-and-measure/signed-exchange/

29: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ha00dSGKmjoEh2mRiG8FIA5sJ1KihTuZe-AXX1r8P-8/

30: https://github.com/mozilla/standards-positions/issues/29

31: https://twitter.com/othermaciej/status/950997728275804160

32: https://developers.google.cn/web/updates/2019/03/nic73#sxg

33: https://caniuse.com/sxg

Moreover, Google has a vested interest in gathering as much personal data as possible, and AMP is just another tool for this. As described in Google’s Support article[34]:

34: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/7220196

When you use the Google AMP Viewer, **Google and the publisher that made the AMP page may each collect data about you**.

But AMP makes the internet faster. ..right? But not that fast! (see what I did there ;)

• The primary performance enhancement attributed to AMP doesn't actually originate from the AMP framework itself, but from the process of preloading the page[35]. This raises a question: Why is preloading an exclusive feature of AMP? Shouldn't publishers have the tools to preload any site, not just AMP ones?
• When it comes to uncached AMP pages, the performance improvements appear to be minimal, if any[36].
• **Multiple states in the US have filed** **an extensive antitrust case**[37] **against Google under federal and state antitrust laws and deceptive trade practices laws** citing[38]: "After crippling AMP’s compatibility with header bidding, Google went to market falsely telling publishers that adopting AMP would enhance page load times. But Google employees knew that AMP only improves the “median of performance” and "AMP pages can actually load slower than other publisher speed optimization techniques."
• In fact, the speed benefits Google marketed were also at least partly a result of Google’s throttling[39]. **Google throttles the load time of non-AMP ads by giving them artificial one-second delays in order to give Google AMP a “nice comparative boost.”**. Internally, Google employees grappled[40] with “how to [publicly] justify [Google] making something slower.

AMP has its issues, and these impact cached AMP pages the most. While uncached AMP pages (e.g. bbc.com/news/amp/[41]) may have a better user experience and minor performance improvements, they still come at a high price. AMP makes sites less diverse, more homogeneous, and threatens the free and Open Web.

35: https://ferdychristant.com/amp-the-missing-controversy-3b424031047

36: https://timkadlec.com/remembers/2018-03-19-how-fast-is-amp-really/

37: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/admin/2020/Press/20201216%20COMPLAINT_REDACTED.pdf

38: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.564903/gov.uscourts.nysd.564903.152.0_1.pdf

39: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.564903/gov.uscourts.nysd.564903.152.0_1.pdf

40: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.564903/gov.uscourts.nysd.564903.152.0_1.pdf

41: https://bbc.com/news/amp/

Terence Eden, another ex-committee member from the AMP committee, *also* resigned in December 2020 saying[42]:

42: https://wptavern.com/jeremy-keith-resigns-from-amp-advisory-committee-it-has-become-clear-to-me-that-amp-remains-a-google-product

I remain convinced that AMP is poorly implemented, hostile to the interests of both users and publishers, and a proprietary and unnecessary incursion into the open web.

Fortunately, AMP seems to be on the decline. Publishers are moving away[43] [2][44], usage is falling, and legal pressures are increasing[45] [2][46] [3][47]. The AMP team may have the best intentions, but **AMP's flaws and negative impacts on privacy and the Open Web cannot be ignored. As long as these issues persist,** u/AmputatorBot **will be here, working to remove AMP from your URLs**.

43: https://wptavern.com/amp-has-irreparably-damaged-publishers-trust-in-google-led-initiatives

44: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/amp-google-top-stories-case-study/403365/

45: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/admin/2020/Press/20201216%20COMPLAINT_REDACTED.pdf

46: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.564903/gov.uscourts.nysd.564903.152.0_1.pdf

47: https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-charges-more-than-twice-its-rivals-in-ad-deals-wins-80-of-its-own-auctions-court-documents-say-11634912297

• *Learn more**

• Barry Adams: Let's talk about AMP[48]
• US Antitrust Case[49] | US Antitrust Complaint[50]
• Chris Graham: Why Google AMP is a threat to the Open Web[51]
• Sarah Gooding: AMP has irreparably damaged publishers’ trust in Google-led initiatives[52]
• Ferdy Christant: AMP: the missing controversy[53]
• Official AMP website: amp.dev[54]
• Debunking Common AMP Myths[55]
• AMP Wikipedia[56]

2. AmputatorBot.com

• *www.AmputatorBot.com**[57] is your go-to tool for removing AMP from your URLs in just one click. Handy and easy to use, free and without ads! Just copy paste the AMP URL, click the big blue button and voilà!

48: https://www.seoforgooglenews.com/p/lets-talk-about-amp

49: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.564903/gov.uscourts.nysd.564903.152.0_1.pdf

50: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/admin/2020/Press/20201216%20COMPLAINT_REDACTED.pdf

51: https://www.socpub.com/articles/chris-graham-why-google-amp-threat-open-web-15847

52: https://wptavern.com/amp-has-irreparably-damaged-publishers-trust-in-google-led-initiatives

53: https://ferdychristant.com/amp-the-missing-controversy-3b424031047

54: https://amp.dev/

55: https://blog.amp.dev/2019/05/23/debunking-common-amp-myths/

56: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Mobile_Pages

57: https://www.amputatorbot.com/

Or just do `https://amputatorbot.com` **+** `/?q=` **+** `<amp-link>`. For example:

https://amputatorbot.com/?q=https://www.google.com/amp/s/electrek.co/2018/06/19/tesla-model-3-assembly-line-inside-tent-elon-musk/amp/[58][59]

58: https://amputatorbot.com/?q=https://www.google.com/amp/s/electrek.co/2018/06/19/tesla-model-3-assembly-line-inside-tent-elon-musk/amp/

59: https://amputatorbot.com/?q=https://www.google.com/amp/s/electrek.co/2018/06/19/tesla-model-3-assembly-line-inside-tent-elon-musk/amp/

3. Subreddits

u/AmputatorBot is active on every subreddit by default. As a moderator, you have the ability to ban or unban the bot.

4. Summon AmputatorBot: u/AmputatorBot

If you've spotted an AMP URL on Reddit and u/AmputatorBot[60] seems absent, you can summon the bot by mentioning it[61] like this: u/AmputatorBot in a reply to the comment or submission containing the AMP URL. The bot will then try to respond and provide a confirmation or error-info through a private message.

60: https://www.reddit.com/u/AmputatorBot/

61: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/cchly3/you_can_now_summon_amputatorbot/

5. Opt out

• *Opt out**: If you prefer not to receive replies from u/AmputatorBot on your comments and submissions, you can click here to opt out[62]. Alternatively, you have the option to block u/AmputatorBot entirely.

62: https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=amputatorbot&amp;subject=opt%20me%20out%20of%20amputatorbot&amp;message=Feel%20free%20to%20change%20this%20message%20content%20to%20include%20feedback%20but%20keep%20the%20subject%20exactly%20the%20same%20or%20the%20bot%20won%E2%80%99t%20work.%20Using%20this%20feature%20will%20only%20stop%20the%20bot%20from%20replying%20to%20your%20comments%20and%20submissions.%20If%20you%20don%27t%20want%20to%20see%20anything%20from%20AmputatorBot,%20block%20it%20instead.%20

• *Undo opt out:** Changed your mind after opting out? No problem! You can click here[63] to undo the opt-out request.

63: https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=amputatorbot&amp;subject=opt%20me%20back%20in%20again%20of%20amputatorbot&amp;message=Feel%20free%20to%20change%20this%20message%20content%20to%20include%20feedback%20but%20keep%20the%20subject%20exactly%20the%20same%20or%20the%20bot%20won%E2%80%99t%20work.%20Only%20use%20this%20feature%20if%20you%20want%20to%20OPT%20BACK%20IN%20after%20regretting%20opting%20out%20earlier.%20

6. Open-sourced on GitHub

AmputatorBot is open-source on GitHub[64] - great for fostering innovation, transparency, and collaboration[65]. Feel free to adapt and contribute. Happy coding!

64: https://github.com/KilledMufasa/AmputatorBot

65: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/cb5vrk/amputatorbot_is_now_open_source/

7. AmputatorBot's API

Did you know AmputatorBot has a free and publicly available API? Probably not, it's brand-new after all. If you decide to use it, we would love to hear how! Check out the docs here[66], or see Postman[67].

66: https://documenter.getpostman.com/view/12422626/UVC3n93T

67: https://www.postman.com/amputatorbot

8. Browser-extension

Don't miss out on the browser extension 'Redirect AMP to HTML[68]' by Daniel Aleksandersen. It automatically redirects AMP pages to their canonical versions when you click on them.

68: https://www.daniel.priv.no/web-extensions/amp2html.html

9. Give feedback / Report an issue

Most of the new features were made after suggestions from you guys, so hit me up if you have any feedback! You can contact me on Reddit[69], post on r/AmputatorBot[70], fill an issue[71] or make a pull request[72].

69: https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=killed_mufasa

70: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/submit

71: https://github.com/KilledMufasa/AmputatorBot/issues

72: https://github.com/KilledMufasa/AmputatorBot/issues

10. Changelog

Check out the changelog here[73].

73: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ch9fxp/changelog_of_amputatorbot/

11. Sponsor

Our server for the bot, website, and API costs about €10 ($12) per month. If you support AmputatorBot's mission and can chip in, any donation would be a huge help. Every bit goes straight into server expenses. Thanks a bunch!

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=%5C_s-xclick&amp;hosted%5C_button%5C_id=EU6ZFKTVT9VH2[74][75]

74: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=%5C_s-xclick&amp;hosted%5C_button%5C_id=EU6ZFKTVT9VH2

75: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&amp;hosted_button_id=EU6ZFKTVT9VH2

Alternatively, consider supporting our friends in Ukraine who could greatly benefit from your help:

https://savelife.in.ua/en/donate-en/[76][77]

https://u24.gov.ua/[78][79]

76: https://savelife.in.ua/en/donate-en/

77: https://savelife.in.ua/en/donate-en/

78: https://u24.gov.ua/

79: https://u24.gov.ua/

12. Closing words

At its core, **AmputatorBot exists to empower individuals to make informed choices**. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the overwhelming support you have shown me and AmputatorBot. Your continued support means the world to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! <3

Comments

Comment by MongArmOfTheLaw at 11/03/2020 at 22:42 UTC

11 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Great work man, keep it up.

Even though it doesn't really effect me for the moment as I only browse on a PC I am 100% behind the idea of an open ecosystem.

Its so easy for those little bits of convenience to end up leaving people facing a monopoly.

Fuck that shit, keep on keeping on brother.

I'll try and chip you a few quid when I'm better off.

Comment by Killed_Mufasa at 30/12/2019 at 20:47 UTC*

1 upvotes, 5 direct replies

https://preview.redd.it/fa6vc3guv58b1.png?width=3890&amp;format=png&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=4d4b7c5d9ba946dce2bed9ce4b4d8924291b0146

Here are some quick links:

• **AmputatorBot on GitHub**[1]
• **AmputatorBot.com**[2]
• **How to summon AmputatorBot**[3]
• **API Documentation**[4]

Comment by Lord_Oasis at 20/02/2020 at 07:15 UTC

6 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Even disregarding the privacy concerns, I absolutely abhor AMP pages because they don't work correctly, barely load faster, and when I want to interact with a page I have to load the regular page anyway, thus taking far longer than if it was just a normal page.

Comment by RheingoldRiver at 03/03/2020 at 11:26 UTC

5 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Hi, I saw this bot for the first time today and I just want to say thank you for coding this, and for being so responsive about updates! I don't have any requests or anything, just wanted to say you seem cool and this project is cool

Comment by JesusGAwasOnCD at 26/02/2020 at 00:58 UTC

4 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Good bot

Comment by chunes at 15/04/2020 at 19:07 UTC

5 upvotes, 1 direct replies

This is one of the few non-useless bots on reddit. Thanks.

Comment by BryKKan at 17/05/2022 at 16:26 UTC

6 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Thanks for building this!

Comment by [deleted] at 20/02/2023 at 21:06 UTC

4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Late comment but I just want to commend you on your hard work and dedication. Most folks (myself included) are uneducated on stuff like this so it’s always nice to see people go out of their way for educations’ sake. Love the bot!

Comment by demi_chaud at 25/02/2023 at 16:20 UTC

4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Thanks so much for the bot and the write-up! I had no idea

Comment by Cornelius_McMuffin at 11/07/2023 at 21:30 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I had never even heard of amp till I encountered your bot. Interesting read.

Comment by Toxic_Puddlefish at 16/07/2023 at 22:37 UTC

4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I've always seen other people get tagged by this bot but never really bothered to read what it was about until it tagged me. Google purposely slowing down pages so people use their tech should be news everywhere, really glad I took the time to read what this all was about and fixed the link I posted, thanks for the information.

Comment by Bassie_c at 25/01/2020 at 21:47 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

r/PraiseTheEditor would like this mod to work automatically on it. The bot will receive a bot flair of course (see our rules for bot accounts on our wiki).

Comment by 4FR33D0M at 16/02/2020 at 03:48 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

This is a great bot, mate!

Quick enhancement request: could you change the Reddit link to np? Otherwise it triggers the automoderator.

http://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/f4fed4/bpa_in_plastic_destroying_the_alpha_male_forced/fhqga12

Comment by bruh-sick at 07/04/2020 at 11:46 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Thank you for the good bot

Comment by ppp133 at 15/04/2020 at 05:24 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I just saw this today and that’s cool, good job protecting redditors’ privacy.

Comment by TwoPunnyFourWords at 28/04/2022 at 18:46 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

I just came here to give kudos for the name "amputator". Well done. :P

Comment by kalamitykhaos at 05/06/2022 at 07:02 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

i just saw amputatorbot for the first time and i adore it, but it's in a sub where it would feel kinda rude to say good bot, so i came here to say good bot

Comment by papanastty at 10/07/2022 at 21:03 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

2022 and this is still hella helpful! Thanks brother

Comment by ShitCuntsinFredPerry at 04/01/2023 at 12:41 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Shit, was an interesting and somewhat sobering read that I didn't expect to come across

Comment by AmbitiousStretch5743 at 21/01/2023 at 07:39 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I had no clue what this was or that it was a thing until now. I’m down. I like it.

Comment by Manetros at 04/02/2023 at 00:10 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

great bot <3

Comment by indieRuckus at 19/02/2023 at 18:50 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Great work. Glad to see at this point AMP is fading away.

One tip for your "fast" joke though. It's supposed to be "But not so fast!". You wrote "But not that fast!" https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/not+so+fast[1][2]

1: https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/not+so+fast

2: https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/not+so+fast

Comment by mohanthe1 at 17/09/2023 at 12:10 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Great job.. 👏

Comment by 1peopleperson1 at 28/10/2023 at 05:06 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Thank you for this amazing bot. I'm always looking for ideas to build a bot myself, but I haven't found a good one yet. Which language did you use in building this?

Great work. Fuck google!

Comment by Royal_Visit3419 at 06/02/2024 at 12:45 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

TBH, I do not understand quite a bit of what I just read. However, what I did understand is super helpful and I appreciate being educated. Thanks very much.