diff --git a/bubble-server/src/main/java/bubble/resources/stream/FilterHttpResource.java b/bubble-server/src/main/java/bubble/resources/stream/FilterHttpResource.java
index 5f2cf618..3525f5ea 100644
--- a/bubble-server/src/main/java/bubble/resources/stream/FilterHttpResource.java
+++ b/bubble-server/src/main/java/bubble/resources/stream/FilterHttpResource.java
@@ -36,9 +36,11 @@ import lombok.Getter;
 import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
 import org.cobbzilla.util.collection.ExpirationEvictionPolicy;
 import org.cobbzilla.util.collection.ExpirationMap;
+import org.cobbzilla.util.collection.NameAndValue;
 import org.cobbzilla.util.http.HttpContentEncodingType;
 import org.cobbzilla.util.http.HttpUtil;
 import org.cobbzilla.util.network.NetworkUtil;
+import org.cobbzilla.util.string.StringUtil;
 import org.cobbzilla.wizard.cache.redis.RedisService;
 import org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.Request;
 import org.glassfish.jersey.server.ContainerRequest;
@@ -67,6 +69,7 @@ import static org.cobbzilla.util.collection.ArrayUtil.arrayToString;
 import static org.cobbzilla.util.daemon.ZillaRuntime.*;
 import static org.cobbzilla.util.http.HttpContentTypes.APPLICATION_JSON;
 import static org.cobbzilla.util.http.HttpContentTypes.TEXT_PLAIN;
+import static org.cobbzilla.util.http.HttpUtil.applyRegexToUrl;
 import static org.cobbzilla.util.json.JsonUtil.COMPACT_MAPPER;
 import static org.cobbzilla.util.json.JsonUtil.json;
 import static org.cobbzilla.util.network.NetworkUtil.isLocalIpv4;
@@ -695,9 +698,32 @@ public class FilterHttpResource {
     public Response followLink(@Context Request req,
                                @Context ContainerRequest ctx,
                                @PathParam("requestId") String requestId,
-                               JsonNode urlNode) {
+                               JsonNode followSpec) {
         final FilterSubContext filterCtx = new FilterSubContext(req, requestId);
-        return ok(redirectCache.computeIfAbsent(urlNode.textValue(), HttpUtil::chaseRedirects));
+
+        // is this a request to parse regexes from a URL?
+        if (followSpec.has("regex")) {
+            return ok(redirectCache.computeIfAbsent(json(followSpec), k -> {
+                final String url = followSpec.get("url").textValue();
+                final String regex = followSpec.get("regex").textValue();
+                final Integer group = followSpec.has("group") ? followSpec.get("group").asInt() : null;
+                final List<NameAndValue> headers = new ArrayList<>();
+                for (String name : req.getHeaderNames()) {
+                    final String value = req.getHeader(name);
+                    headers.add(new NameAndValue(name, value));
+                }
+                final List<String> matches = applyRegexToUrl(url, headers, regex, group);
+                return matches == null ? null : StringUtil.toString(matches, "\n");
+            }));
+
+        } else if (followSpec.isTextual()) {
+            // just a regular follow -- chase redirects
+            return ok(redirectCache.computeIfAbsent(followSpec.textValue(), HttpUtil::chaseRedirects));
+        } else {
+            final String json = json(followSpec);
+            log.error("followLink: invalid json (expected String or {regex, url}): "+json);
+            return notFound(json);
+        }
     }
 
     @Path(EP_ASSETS+"/{requestId}/{appId}")
diff --git a/bubble-server/src/main/resources/bubble/rule/social/block/site/LI.js.hbs b/bubble-server/src/main/resources/bubble/rule/social/block/site/LI.js.hbs
index 3a259786..d38f958a 100644
--- a/bubble-server/src/main/resources/bubble/rule/social/block/site/LI.js.hbs
+++ b/bubble-server/src/main/resources/bubble/rule/social/block/site/LI.js.hbs
@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@
 const {{JS_PREFIX}}_site_host = location.protocol + '//' + window.location.hostname + '/';
 
 function {{JS_PREFIX}}_apply_blocks(blocked_users) {
-    const comments = document.querySelector('#comments');
-    if (comments === null || comments.length === 0) {
-        console.warn('No comments found, not filtering');
+    const articles = Array.from(document.getElementsByClassName('feed-shared-update-v2'));
+    if (articles === null || articles.length === 0) {
+        console.warn('No articles found, not filtering');
         return;
     }
-    {{JS_PREFIX}}_consider_block(comments.querySelectorAll('feed-shared-update-v2'), blocked_users);
+    {{JS_PREFIX}}_consider_block(articles, blocked_users);
 }
 
 function {{JS_PREFIX}}_author_from_href(href) {
@@ -29,8 +29,9 @@ function {{JS_PREFIX}}_author_from_href(href) {
     return name;
 }
 
-function {{JS_PREFIX}}_remove_article_from_dom(comment) {
-    comment.parentNode.removeChild(comment);
+function {{JS_PREFIX}}_remove_article_from_dom(article) {
+    // todo: does this work?
+    article.parentNode.removeChild(article);
 }
 
 function {{JS_PREFIX}}_create_block_control(article, authorName, articleLink) {
@@ -72,6 +73,7 @@ function {{JS_PREFIX}}_consider_block(articles, blocked_users) {
             const articleLinks = Array.from(article.getElementsByTagName('a'));
             for (let j=0; j<articleLinks.length; j++) {
                 const articleLink = articleLinks[i];
+                console.log('consider_block: examining articleLink with href='+articleLink.href);
                 const author = {{JS_PREFIX}}_author_from_href(articleLink.href);
                 if (author === null) continue;
                 if (author in blocked_users) {
@@ -86,10 +88,13 @@ function {{JS_PREFIX}}_consider_block(articles, blocked_users) {
                     }
 
                     let b = {{JS_PREFIX}}_create_block_control(article, author, articleLink);
-                    // console.log('inserting span='+b.id+' for article by '+author);
-
-                    authorSpans[0].parentNode.appendChild(b);
-                    {{JS_PREFIX}}_tally_allow();
+                    if (b !== null) {
+                        console.log('consider_block: inserting span='+b.id+' for article by '+author);
+                        authorSpans[0].parentNode.appendChild(b);
+                        {{JS_PREFIX}}_tally_allow();
+                    } else {
+                        console.log('consider_block: create_block_control returned null for author '+author)
+                    }
                 }
             }
         }
diff --git a/utils/cobbzilla-utils b/utils/cobbzilla-utils
index c66f9e16..ea72ac4a 160000
--- a/utils/cobbzilla-utils
+++ b/utils/cobbzilla-utils
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit c66f9e167ca32887374ec07a05fd3bddaeb8c2d5
+Subproject commit ea72ac4a1619c4f5915047650cdd18b8a6202681