Opinion vs News Label Badge

WHAT IT DOES

Opinion vs News Label Badge scans web pages for article links and headlines, analyzing each link's URL and surrounding context to classify articles as either "News" or "Opinion/Editorial." A small colored badge appears next to each link—blue for News and amber for Opinion—providing an immediate visual cue about the nature of the content before you click. The badge includes a hover tooltip explaining the classification. A floating summary panel displays the total count of news versus opinion articles on the page, giving you a quick overview of the page's content balance. This tool helps readers make informed decisions about what to read, especially on news aggregators and social media platforms where opinion pieces may be mixed with factual reporting.

WHERE IT RUNS

This script operates as a userscript within the BotGentz extension on any webpage that contains article links, including news sites, aggregators, RSS readers, and social media feeds. It functions on any modern browser that supports the BotGentz extension, including Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, and Opera. The script runs entirely client-side, analyzing the page's DOM without sending any information to external servers. It works across all domains and adapts to different site structures automatically.

HOW TO USE

After installation, the script automatically scans the page for article links and adds classification badges. News articles appear with a blue "News" badge, while opinion pieces appear with an amber "Opinion" badge. Hover over any badge to see a tooltip explaining the classification. The floating summary panel shows the number of news and opinion articles on the page—drag it anywhere on your screen by clicking and holding the panel. Use the panel to customize the classification keywords, toggle the summary panel, adjust badge position, enable opinion highlighting, or switch between color schemes. Click "Rescan Page" to re-analyze the page if new content loads.

THE MECHANISM THAT MAKES IT WORK

Unlike simplistic domain-based filters, this script employs a multi-factor scoring system that combines URL path analysis, keyword frequency, and domain weighting. The algorithm first examines the URL for path segments like /opinion/, /editorial/, /commentary/, or /blog/, assigning higher scores to strong indicators. It then analyzes the link's text and surrounding HTML context for terms like "Op-Ed," "Analysis," "Column," or "Perspective," building a cumulative opinion score. Simultaneously, it scans for news indicators such as "Breaking," "Report," "Update," or "Coverage." The two scores are compared, and the higher-scoring classification is assigned. Domain-level heuristics provide additional weighting for known opinion or news outlets. The result is a nuanced classification that identifies editorial content even when URLs are not explicitly labeled, outperforming simple keyword filters or domain-only approaches.

THE PANEL

The script panel is built using BotGentz's BGPanel framework and provides comprehensive control over the labeler's behavior. The panel opens as a floating overlay that can be dragged anywhere on your screen, with a clean dark theme matching the tool's aesthetic. It includes text input fields for customizing opinion and news detection keywords, toggle switches for enabling the labeler, highlighting opinion articles, and showing the summary panel, and dropdown menus for badge position (left or right of the link) and color scheme (default or high-contrast). Action buttons allow you to save settings, rescan the page, or reset all settings to defaults. The panel collapses to a small icon when not in use and expands when clicked, remaining accessible but unobtrusive. Press the Escape key at any time to close the panel.

PLEASE NOTE

This script requires the free BotGentz extension to be installed and activated in your browser. The extension is available from the official BotGentz website. The classification is based on pattern matching and may occasionally misclassify articles, especially on sites with unconventional URL structures or ambiguous language. You can adjust the opinion and news keywords in the panel to better match the sites you visit. The script does not collect, store, or transmit any data; all processing occurs locally in your browser. If a site's HTML structure changes significantly, you may need to rescan the page or adjust settings. The script is designed as a reading aid and does not reflect the official classification of any publication or author.