About Thread Reader App
Hello! You probably reached this page to find out more about why authors block their contents from being on our site, Thread Reader App. We respect the authors' decisions. But there are some misconceptions about what we do and who we are, so we hope you read this page and make a decision for yourself.
What is Thread Reader App?
Thread Reader App is a service that allows anyone to unroll long X thread and display them on an easy to read page.
What are the benefits for X thread authors?
We want to help authors reach a bigger audience by making it easier for people to share thier contents on other social networks, blogs, messengers or emails as X threads tend to be confusing for non-X users (it often only shows the first tweet, or it starts in the middle and hard to find where the thread starts.)
We also have the following feature for free to help authors spread their work:
- Free PDF archives of their own threads
- Publish threads on their own blogs using Micropub
Authors can access all these features by creating a free account with us using X login then go to My Authored Threads page.
We also honor authors' decision to not show ads on thier threads on our site. You can set this on the Settings page after logging into our site using X login.
Is Thread Reader stealing other people's content?
The simple answer is NO.
When all of us sign up on X, we are authorizing X to make our content available to not just X, but to the entire X network.
From X Terms of Service: “This license authorizes us to make your Content available to the rest of the world and to let others do the same.”
You can read the complete X's Terms of Use here
This means our content is available not just on the X website, or the X mobile App, but also embedded tweets on many news websites, blogs, etc.
We use X APIs (app programming interfaces), and comply with X terms just as every other X app.
Why do you have ads and Premium features?
You must know that Thread Reader is not a startup. It’s just two indie developers working very hard to make it happen. Everyday we are working on this project, doing marketing, support and development. We don't have any external funding on purpose.
Even if we're passionate about what we're doing, in the end if we don’t get any money to live, we’ll have to get back to a more classic desk job.
We also want to stay as independent as possible.
Thread Reader is already bound to X through their Terms of Service – and somehow through some of their obscure developer rules – but we don't want to depend on any other entity/person that could decide who and what can be published on the website.
You may think that it doesn't cost much to run a site like this? But you’re mistaken.
Let’s run the numbers: a good full stack developer is paid $150,000/y+, a normal Startup probably has 4 engineers: that's $600,000/y. Add some support and marketing people and you’re close to $800,000/y in labor costs. On the technical side we'd like to keep it simple but still: sending emails (like subscriptions alerts) costs $1,000/y, hosting and bandwidth is cheap but still adds up $5,000/y. We are also paying X API for $5/month. Plus you need a bunch of other services like security audit, backups, software licences, etc. probably another $10,000/y.
That means we'd be close to $1,000,000/y to make this profitable not even talking about taxes. We can assure you, We don't even make close to that!
That said, we do honor authors' decision to not show ads on thier threads on our site for free if authors wish to do so. This can be set on the Settings page after logging into our site using X login.
How do I block Thread Reader from unrolling my threads?
Authors can remove all past and future content in a very easy and straightforward way. You only have to mention the bot @ThreadReaderApp with the keyword: BLOCK ME (case is important) using the account you want to be removed from the site.
That would be: @ThreadReaderApp BLOCK ME That's it.
For future thread, we check if authors have explicitly blocked us and do not unroll their threads. For past threads, we remove all the content immediately from our server, but it may take up to 24 hours to be deleted from all internet caching. (We use Cloudflare, excellent service!)
Please note that other X users can still try to unroll your threads by mentioning our name with a keyword "unroll." We will reply saying the author does not want their content on our site.
Do you save content forever?
Thread Reader does not save the content forever, it is forbidden by X term of service.
How to report certain threads on Thread Reader to be removed?
Since we are in sync with X, anything that is deleted on X will get deleted from our site. We check multiple times per day to sync with X and update existing threads to stay up to date. Also the bot will remove blocked/suspended accounts. We basically let X handle the moderation.
If you just want to remove your own threads without deleting it on X, you can login using your X account to our site and choose which thread you'd like to remove.