FYI xcancel is just a mirror that allows reading replies without needing an account.

Whereas X can be trusted?

Yes? It's the data source, not a third-party. How is this even a question?

There's pedantic, and then there's needlessly pedantic.

xcancel is a valid workaround for X links on Hacker News and is sufficient for original attribution.

X restricts what you can view without logging in. Many folks don't want to log in to X, for obvious reasons. Posting an xcancel link is kinda like folks posting various `archive` URLs to bypass paywalls, work around overloaded servers, etc. That's an extremely common practice here that usually goes without comment.

You can't think of even one reason?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/12/elon-musk...