skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
The time delay in implementation of the black-out on my system (via JavaScript) probably helps make the point more. I went to the main page (the link here) not by following the link from this thread, but from my browser history. I saw a brief glimpse of today's main page, and then the screen image changed to Wikipedia's black-out page. I went to the information page, and there it still shows all the headings a Wikipedian will see when logged in: the user's own user page, and user talk page, and so on. So I followed the link to my user page, and it too displayed for the briefest tantalizing moment before showing the black-out page. Slick. I tried some other stored URLs from my browser history, and they all briefly displayed the appropriate Wikipedia page before being overwritten with the black-out notice. This will get attention.

The black-out information page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn...

says "The Wikipedia community has blacked out the English version of Wikipedia for 24 hours on January 18th to raise awareness about legislation being proposed by the U.S. Congress," but I see it also includes advice for residents of other countries about what to do about the legislation.

The information page even includes a response to the question "In carrying out this protest, is Wikipedia abandoning neutrality? Can I still trust Wikipedia?" The response is "We are staging this blackout because, although Wikipedia’s articles are neutral, its existence actually is not. Wikipedia depends on its existence for a free and open, uncensored Internet." This immediately suggests some other countries that it might be important to draw more attention to on Wikipedia. I wonder if that will happen. If it doesn't, I may indeed start doubting the neutrality of Wikipedia even more than I already do.

Mobile devices are exempted from the black-out, according to the information page, and anyone can turn off the black-out by disabling JavaScript. (I enable JavaScript on Wikipedia to take advantage of various Wikipedia editing tools.) I'll have to experiment with viewing the site some more, and I'll be curious to see what the worldwide reaction is. Again, I wonder what users will suggest what other countries to protest about with regard to Internet censorship.

AFTER EDIT: In another experiment, I posted a Wikipedia link to Facebook to tell friends about the background to my new favorite pop song. The link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_This_Kolaveri_Di

still shows correct summary text when embedded in a Facebook comment. That the links are still pasteable and still have usability when submitted to discussion forums is an especially nice aspect of how Wikipedia implemented its blackout. (P.S. The direct link to the official video for the new song, which is rapidly going viral around the world, is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR12Z8f1Dh8

from Sony Music India hosted on YouTube.)
Quite simple to toggle it with NoScript.
One of the greats of UW. Love the delivery...
On the google doc with the permissions error, click 'Download Original' in the upper right corner.
Here goes a "small" bookmarklet:

javascript:(function(){document.getElementById("mw-page-base").style.display="block"; document.getElementById("mw-head-base").style.display="block"; document.getElementById("content").style.display="block"; document.getElementById("mw-head").style.display="block"; document.getElementById("mw-panel").style.display="block"; document.getElementById("footer").style.display="block"; document.getElementById("mw-sopaOverlay").style.display="none";})()
Seems really poorly implemented. Doesn't explain why it's blacked out in a concise manner, it was unable to look up the House rep for my zip code, it doesn't autolink Twitter, refers to the bills only as "SOPA" and "PIPA" and never actually uses the full names, certainly doesn't employ any innovative methods of getting people to call their reps like Tumblr did, etc...
Maple has no network or USB and is thus not really comparable.
Agreed. Absolutely great for the Triangle.

The surprise part was the promise of an additional $20-$150k in convertible notes. That's going to be huge for startups just starting out after the program.
That is seriously weak. The phones would be ringing off the hook if Google stopped service instead for 24 hours. As it is, everyone will simply think it's another cute Google doodle.
Slightly humorous and certainly unfortunate that Google is having trouble with Google Docs and App Engine...
Boing Boing blackout message
Screenshot: What Google.com looks like if you visit with a US IP
I somehow feel bad about being able to access it now :).
If you remove the "s" from the "https" in the URL (not the protocol, but there's one in the URL itself), it should work.
Is that all they did? A skewed blacked out logo? I hardly saw it. I was hoping for something a little more dramatic rather than something I would pass off as a glitch on the internet.
Wow. I really think that of the sites that have decided to go black, or even put banners up... this is the one that's likely to affect the most people who need to hear about this. Fingers crossed.
Anatomy of Wikipedia SOPA Blackout
The blackout on Wikipedia only affects browsers with JavaScript enabled.

The blackout banner is loaded by this script, http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:BannerLoader&banner=blackout

This script create an #mw-sopaOverlay element which fills the viewport.

The page's usual content is not removed. Instead, the #content element and others are hidden by this CSS which is inserted by the blackout script.

<style id="mw-sopa-blackout">
#mw-page-base, #mw-head-base, #content,
#mw-head, #mw-panel, #footer { display: none; }
</style>

A user stylesheet can reverse this, for example, https://gist.github.com/1631181

The "edit" links have been removed for normal users. Attempting to edit any page results in the message,

The action you have requested is limited to users
in one of the groups: Stewards, staff.
Well that's a silver lining from my perspective: a lot of people will learn how to disable Javascript in their browsers.
Pro-tip: Disable JavaScript and you can browse the site normally in English.
Wikipedia loads jQuery, so doing this works: https://gist.github.com/1631148
The bigger issue will be the confusion when people who are used to the C# 5 semantics work on a C# 4 project.
Alexis Ohanian says tomorrow will be the geekiest, most rational protest ever
Look at Special:RecentChanges nothings happening.
Yeah, I've had a hard time figuring out why Atlassian's products became so popular. Good corporate sales people I guess. They charge a lot and the software is nearly universally terrible. Can anyone tell me some reasons I would want to use JIRA instead of Trac or Bugzilla?
Fighting Violent Gang Crime With Math
From a technical perspective, you're absolutely right. From a real world perspective, it requires a signed kernel and signed drivers.
Popular Blog BoingBoing SOPA Reaction
Show HN: How to get around the Wikipedia blackout (if you have to)
I whole heartedly support the protests against SOPA and PIPA, but also recognize that Wikipedia has become an essential service for a lot of people. If you need to get around the black out, and read something on wikipedia, go to the page you need, then put this in your address bar and press enter...

javascript:(function(){$("#mw-sopaOverlay").attr('style', 'display:none'); $("#mw-page-base, #mw-head-base, #content, #mw-head, #mw-panel, #footer").attr('style', 'display:block;');})();

Like I said, this isn't meant to detract from any of the protesting. Just helping out people who are aware, and *actively opposed to these two bills.
Just disable JavaScript. An extension is overkill! ;)
Or just press Esc very quickly so it stops loading the page before rendering the protest message overlay.
I disagree. Google's phones would be ringing off the hook if they discontinued service for a day and that wouldn't benefit anyone. We shouldn't punish the entire Internet for the day, only do enough to raise awareness. This is the most obstructed I've ever seen their logo and the first time I've seen them link to something other than just a search term on the "doodle." I believe they have done their part.
I'm Codecademy's cofounder - we work hard to make our product and we have a lot of satisfied users. As a lot of other people have alluded to, there's no "secret." We work all the time to build awesome stuff and we're lucky that people notice.
Or go to any of the thousands of Wikipedia mirrors. Answers.com is an easy-to-remember one (choose 'Reference material' above the search box).
Thanks, mlinsey. I'm Codecademy's cofounder and I'm glad you've seen people enjoyed the experience. As you said, it is indeed something you get because you work hard at it.
Can Freemium Work in EdTech?
WordPress.com SOPA blackout page
I know 2.0 isn't finished yet but I checked out the progress on the 2.0-wip branch yesterday and the 'responsive' part of it is definitely not polished yet. In contrast I have played with skeleton and it resizes much better out of the box. For example, when you start to resize that page check out the footer text and the way you lose text behind the video. I also don't like how when things go wrong instead of having to scroll horizontally it cuts off content. (ideally everything would resize perfectly, but I think cutting off information is the last thing we want)
Do you really expect a service as integral to the Internet as Google to shutdown entirely? Would they want to give people an excuse to try Bing or another search engine? What about their shareholders?

This is about as far as they can go, and tellingly this is the first time that I can remember them using their homepage for such a call to action.

Expecting them to go dark for 24 hours is just naïve.
Still want to use Wikipedia through the SOPA blackout?
FWIW the homepage looks like this: http://imgur.com/bHRRa
I'm Codecademy's cofounder. I can tell you our investors have very little to do with our press - we've used them rarely, if ever, to get press thus far.
Just because the company might fit into Microsoft's road map at $33/share doesn't mean it fits into anyone else's. Microsoft needed portals it could use to draw eyes to perennially flagging MSN, and Yahoo has some really popular pages (Yahoo sports, weather, and finance - really the most valuable part of the company) that would have fit nicely.

I doubt Yahoo would have ever been worth that price to Microsoft, but even if it was, the offer doesn't necessarily mean Microsoft expected Yahoo could flourish or even survive as an independent company. I doubt too many people can cogently sum up what Yahoo does, and I'm not sure any of them work for Yahoo.
My iGoogle home page is always buggy (sometimes it shows the gadgets I have chosen, but many times it does not, probably because I also use Ghostery). This evening it is showing the blacked-out Google logo sometimes when I reload it, but usually showing the normal iGoogle logo along with my chosen theme's background image.

AFTER EDIT: Like a lot of Chrome users, I normally do my Google searches directly from my URL bar. Sure enough, every results page shows the black-out over the Google logo. This too will get plenty of attention in the United States. But clicking the logo only shows me (in this case) my usual Google pull-downs to specialized Google locations like my Google+ page, Images (which doesn't have its logo blacked out), and so forth. The "Search" choice from the pull-down leads to a main Google search page with a very obvious black-out, which reveals mouse-over text saying "Tell Congress: Please don't censor the Web!"
Will companies actually stay in the area after the program?
Hang in there ... I believe the new MacBook Airs are about to be released and there could be a 15" version if the rumours are to be believed.

The MacBook Air look-alikes end up costing more or less the same and don't handle as well, for example touch pads with poor response. The keyboard is a personal issue, you'd have to test drive it to confirm whether you like the feel and size.

Linux compatability is always something to watch out for with new generation notebooks. I'd take a CD or USB copy and test before buying.
Does anyone else wish that they had put up Facebook and Twitter buttons next to the G+ button on this? I get that those companies are the competition, but you would think if the point is to get the word out about this awful legislation, they would let bygones be bygones.
thanks, danielle!
Truly concise and elegant. I'm not sure a code-golf could make that much shorter!
Sure, we can put it with our Sun stock.
It's weird how it loads the page and then goes black.

I wonder if that's for SEO purposes, or if they've intentionally done that to get the emotional reaction it gives me... I feel like I dropped my ice cream cone every time I load a page and it goes black.
The home page is jarring.

http://imgur.com/aLjTP
> For instance, there is no real trace of this species of professional ventriloquist in any century but the 20th

There's nothing new about speechwriting. Antiphon of Rhamnus(480–411 BC) was a professional speechwriter. Calling them ventriloquists entirely misses the point. The speaker is the one responsible for the words. He doesn't read whatever is put in front of him. He directs the speechwriter to write what the speaker wants to say and is responsible for accepting, rejecting, or modifying it.

George Washington and Andrew Jackson did read others words as their own. Although Lincoln wrote his own speeches, he circulated drafts for comment and incorporated ideas from those comments.
After seeing Wikipedia and Google, I am convinced that this means the end of SOPA and PIPA for now. Am I being really naive in thinking that Congress is not going to try another attempt at any internet regulation till at least the elections are over?
Craigslist totally blacked out
And Google rolls it out...
Nobody bothers trying to catch the losers?
Here is the real link to the article: http://nerdvittles.com/?p=798
Previous submission, with lots of discussion of the technical details:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3477966
Boing Boing blackout page
That worked, thanks. Now I wonder when they will change the color choice of the text. The difficulty of reading off-white text on a light blue background with random off-white motif is high.
Thanks for pointing that out. I would have guessed that the original form would desugar to

map(lambda i: (lambda: i), xrange(10))

but apparently it doesn't.
fix: https://gist.github.com/1631148
Google's list of companies in opposition of SOPA/PIPA
I think that's enough to get the attention of the public. Lots of people - like my kids - notice the special Google logos.
It looks like the server that provides the image uses an GeoIP lookup, and only if you're in the US will it display the blackened logo.

I'm in Canada, but only when I proxy through my US server do I see the sopa/google logo.
I have to admit that of all the ideas I had of how to black-out a big site like wikipedia a simple overlay never occurred to me, but its brilliant, not really disturbing SEO or any other service that is built on top of Wikipedia, congrats
You can demand a functional API but you cannot demand a reliable service. That is what they've been unable to provide in the first place.
All your examples look strange only if you're living in a wealthy place. I can recall having to do all these without having to set foot on a plane, except one: whenever I go somewhere, I bother to learn at least a little of the local language.
Thanks for that. At the moment I can't see it in AU. I still get the monkey king.
"website" being both their actual website, and the DNS service they operate.
Steve Jobs 1980: Telling Apple's Story and Intention Up To That Point
DuckDuckGo STOP PIPA/SOPA Message
When you sign the petition you are given links to share on Facebook and Twitter as well as Google+.
I disagree, I think this was a very appropriate move for Google. Consider that Google has shareholders to answer to (they can't just take a community vote, like Wikipedia).

I'm actually thoroughly thrilled with what they did, when I visited the main search page the blacked out Google logo was actually psychologically shocking for me, enough to make me click it to find out why (that black box acts like a visual sink attracting me).

Think of the crazy amount of people that hit that main search page. This plus Wikipedia's complete blackout will seriously make some movement.
End Piracy, Not Liberty – Google
SOPA Resistance Day begins at Ars
One of the major problems is copyright. The copyright laws have gotten so out of hand in this country that things still retain copyright long after the creator is dead. Back when it was first issued, it use to be only 28 years in 1710, but it has just increased and increased...
I mean, what good is money if your dead? Does the media industry really need to make more than billions and billions of each year? And its not like they're that original, they release old films and books countless times and you're telling me its impossible to turn a profit in 28 years?
It's ridiculous
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk862BbjWx4
If you click on the blacked out logo it takes you to a page with information about SOPA/PIPA.
Not sure why you got down voted, but your view IMHO is correct.
and then forget to re-enable it and be baffled as to why their browser is utterly deprecated.
Mini Canon
Free Software Foundation Blackout Page
or you could just disable javascript? Its just a js overlay.
Just disable JavaScript! ;)
Is there a CSV AWK?

By that i mean, something that could read the header line in a CSV and automatically generate those variables for each line.

Demonstration:

$ cat test.csv
Field1,Field2
1,2
3,4
5,6
$ csvawk '{print Field1+Field2}' test.csv
3
7
11
It is in iPad safari.

Wikipedia is blacked. m.wikipedia.org isn't.
I'm sure CodeLesson is wondering where their White House endorsement is.
"Wikipedia depends on its existence for a free and open, uncensored Internet."

Gah... that should be "Wikipedia depends, for its existence, on a free and open, uncensored Internet.", but of course editing that page is disabled! :)
Just disable JavaScript. No userscripts necessary. ;)
I agree. If you can use SASS or LESS, it makes namespacing Bootstrap really easy, though.
Good point. It's very much fun to see more realtime interaction with a forum. You feel less like a lurker and more like a real participant. Still, I think that in itself is good feedback about the product more generally--how you market it--rather than about the specific features.
http://www.google.com/logos/2012/sopa12_hp.png
A screenshot of the full google.com page for US users:

https://plus.google.com/116116954741672937645/posts/3cR4xcVi...
[Facebook event] Anti-SOPA/PIPA Protest: Profile Picture Blackout Day
While some people are voicing their disapproval, I think this is more than enough on Google's side. It seems ridiculous to assume a for-profit company that has to answer to shareholders would shut down completely for the day, however the fact that both their homepage as well as the logo on all search result pages link to a detailed explanation that your average user should understand is more than enough. We should be applauding this action and hope that it spreads the word even further.

Edit: Also for those concerned that the Google Doodle isn't enough; here were stats from Wikipedia on a Google Doodle search query: http://stats.grok.se/en/201109/Albert_Szent-Gy%C3%B6rgyi - I believe 4.2 million views is significant.

Edit 2: And a HN discussion on click-thru rates for the Google Doodle topic searches: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3004392
Their execution is better than Wikipedia's in my opinion. Well done, BoingBoing.
Came up with almost exactly that

javascript:$('#mw-page-base, #mw-head-base, #content, #mw-head, #mw-panel, #footer').css('display','block'); $('#mw-sopaOverlay').css('display','none');

You beat me to it. :)
Been checking out everyone's banners and pages, and this is my favorite. It's incredibly arresting, well written, and has good calls to action.
Exactly, it desugars to something like a for loop, in fact the iteration variable remains visible in the outer scope (other possible source of confusion).

I believe it doesn't desugar to a map+lambda for performance reasons.
Bookmarklet to show wikipedia through the blackout
Does it bother anyone else that they've basically required a gmail just to read the PDF infographic? Sure, you can right-click "save-as", but the kind of people they need to be speaking to aren't going to 'know how'/'go through the trouble' to view it...

On the other hand, I think Wikipedia nailed its execution with the teaser and overlay. I know we can't expect a for-profit company like Google to completely shut-down, but a subtle interference into everyone's use of the site would have been nice to see. I guess I feel a little let down with this.

*EDIT: After reading some comments, it looks like this was just a permissions error. While it alleviates some of my disappointment, I'm still not completely sold that it will speak loudly to many Americans.
They win points for clearly stating in the first paragraph how they would be affected and why they oppose it.
I love the little hint of a letter sticking out. It reminds you what used to be there, but is now censored. Meanwhile, it also establishes a subtle metaphor: censorship just covers the problem up, rather than fixing it.
You can also hit escape just as the page loads, if you're really lazy :)
"its service" implies to me in a headline that they will censor customer's DNS queries.
This is a special moment in the history of the Internet and a critical test for online activism. Proud to be a part of it.
Here's a bookmarklet to show it. Just drag it into your bookmarks bar.

http://varenhor.st/2012/01/bookmarklet-to-bring-wikipedia-ba...

javascript:$('#mw-sopa-blackout,#mw-sopaOverlay').remove(); $('body').children().show();
I love that they are doing this, BUT the big header "503: Service Unavailable" is what is first read and in my experience, most users will just stop in their tracks and return later (assuming the site is having technical issues) without reading the rest.
I'm getting a PDF rather than being directed to Google Docs (maybe because I'm not using Chrome). And SumatraPDF fails to load it.

Edit: Evince for windows works.
Minecraft Blackout Page
For anyone wondering, the video being played is by Cyriak. http://cyriak.co.uk
I see in the tutorials that you have bear (BAER) and bare (BAIR). Has it altered your pronunciation of words so you try to pronounce the difference? Does it cause problems when captioning people with strong accents?
I voted for the blackout, so I feel obliged to let myself be inconvenienced by it. 3 times already in the first 40 minutes.
Being incredibly cheap is a transformative feature.
Yeah, I wanted to edit it too: in "the Wikipedia community has chosen to blackout the English version of Wikipedia" it should be "black out". Curses!
Aye, the ScriptNo Chrome extension[1] does a good job.

I configured it to "default allow" and then blacklisted "en.wikipedia.org".

[1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/oiigbmnaadbkfbmpbf...
Just paste this into your address bar:

javascript:$('#mw-page-base, #mw-head-base, #content, #mw-head, #mw-panel, #footer').show();$('#mw-sopaOverlay').hide()

Built thanks to this wonderful analysis by tantalor.