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- 3 ways to disable the Leagues
3 ways to disable the Leagues
1. Disabling the Leagues by making your profile private.
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Go to the Settings
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Go to the Privacy section.
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Untick the button "make my profile public".
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Save the changes.
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Done.
If you do this in your browser, the Leagues will be also disabled in the app.
Please note that by making your profile private, you won't be able to follow other users nor being followed. As long as your profile remains private you will stay in the same League. If you make your profile private while you are still in a leaderboard competition you will stay in this leaderboard and may be demoted or promoted at the end of the leaderboard week, but from then on you will not join a new leaderboard. You can join a new leaderboard anytime except the last 24 hours of a leaderboard week.
The list of people you are following and your followers stays the same. You can't see your friends list anymore on the main page but you can see it on your profile.
Also others can still see a person they are following in their list after that person made the profile private.
Thanks to @dlhgl for this information.
2. Hiding the Leagues panel with an ad blocker.
It works only if you are using Duolingo in a browser, not in the app.
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First, install the uBlock Origin extension (Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Microsoft Edge).
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Go to Duolingo home page and right-click on your League (make sure that you're selecting the whole League and not some of it's elements).
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Select the option Block item.
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In the window that opens, select Create:
And enjoy:
If you like, you can delete the white space that appears instead of the League the same way: then the achievement table will move up.
When a new week starts you'll get a notification about the position that you kept in the last League. Every new League will appear again on the main page and you'll have to block it again.
Note: you can do the same with some other ad blockers, for example AdBlock Plus.
3. Hiding the Leagues panel with an userstyle
(this method was invented by @Thiibo. I found it thanks to the comments of @dlhgl and @testmoogle. You can read the comments here).
And again, this works only if you are using Duolingo in a browser, not in the app.
Google Chrome
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Get the "Stylus" userstyle extension for Chrome. (Click the blue "Add to Chrome" button on that page.)
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Get the "Duolingo hide leagues" userstyle. (Click the blue "Install Style" button on that page.)
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Done.
Firefox
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Get the "Stylus" userstyle extension for Firefox. (Click the blue "Add to Firefox" button on that page.)
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Get the "Duolingo hide leagues" userstyle. (Click the blue "Install Style" button on that page.)
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Done.
It should automatically work straightaway, even without having to refresh the page. Don't have to do anything else. You can make the Leagues panel be visible again whenever you want by turning off the userstyle in the Stylus extension menu.
Please note that even though you will not see the leaderboards you'll still be participating in them.
289 Comments
Hmm, very efficient... I might try it myself.
Just kidding around, I'll only do it when the Leagues get too frustrating to me.
Aw, thanks. I've actually had fun learning today as some of the lessons had some very interesting sentences in them. It beats getting caught up in trying to be competitive mindset that is so easy to get dragged into.
A great phrase for you. Not too sure if I've got it right, but here goes;
"les grandes esprits se recontrent" (great minds think alike).
I've given you a lingot because it's nice for people to be able to reply with genuine responses.
Σας ευχαριστώ πάρα πολύ!! (Thank you immensely!!)
Never again will my eyes be accosted by the abomination that is the Leagues :D
As a side note, for those who would rather avoid installing another extension; I did it with an ad-blocker I already had :)
I didn't realise I could do this, so I just clicked on my ad-blocker and then clicked on, "block element", whilst on the DL home page. Moving the mouse around the page, highlights different areas that you can block. When my mouse was over the league, I clicked on it and the league just disappeared and everything below it automatically moved up.
Cheers :)
Nice, S.Eleni and Moonbeam! Idk why I didn't try this the first time I saw this post, four months ago. Perhaps I didn't have Ghostery then. The third solution has worked well for me (the Stylus userstyle extension) but this seems it would have the same effect, and it's easier.
Dear Algarve11:
Thank you for restoring my sanity. I have used method #3 and I can't tell you how much better I feel. You have truly restored my ability to work again at learning Chinese and Russian without distractions and the pressure to compete in stupid leagues. It took me over a week to gain the confidence (this is NO JOKE) to try this out but today I did it and it worked...I felt like a lead weight had been lifted from me. Why can't Duo make this option available? Why is it we have to use a 3rd party? I can't thank you enough. Goodbye leagues, hello language learning! :)
I'm very glad that it helped you! But, as I wrote in my original post, all the credit of #3 goes to @dlhgl @testmoogle, I only copied their solution.
Good luck with your studies! I don't know Chinese, but Russian is my native language, so... Удачи Вам с русским языком, я уверена что у Вас все получится!
Thanks then to dlhgl and testmoogle too, xxooxx...
My Russian is still very basic...so not sure what you wrote yet...but I will guess that you are wishing me well on my studies...if so thanks. I only fluently speak English...native tongue but I enjoy learning other languages and Chinese is necessary because I live in China and Russian is something I've wanted to pick up because I used to live in Kazakhstan. I should pick easier languages LOL but I do like the challenge. Once again thanks so much to all the people who came up with this solution...blessings 10 fold.
Thank you. Man I was caught up in being an over-achiever instead of learning at my pace. I went to the settings and privacy. That worked thanks.
Yes, that would be really nice, but I don't think there's a way to do it.
I was at least able to opt out by going to my profile on this site on my PC, choosing Settings, then Privacy, and then unchecking the "Make my Profile Public" box.
1761
Really? I can't see it on the app, and I can't even find it when trying to look for it. Which is great, because I detest the leagues.
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When you disable the leagues by making your profile private they are disabled on the web as well as on the app.
Thank you. Now I can concentrate on learning, instead of competing with unknown people, learning unknown languages. The League option should absolutely be optional.
I wasn´t sure what "the whole league" meant so was deleting the shields, bits of the league, me! Until I clicked on a white corner of "the whole league" box and then it all dissapeared. Not sure If I have done any damage with what I was doing but thought I´d put up my comments for others in case they are also not sure what the whole league meant. Thanks for the tip by the way, I can now get back to learning and also see how my friends are doing without getting hot under the collar when some young punk whacks on 563 XP in 15 minutes and knocks me out of the top 10..........and breath, you see, I´m over it already...almost.
Glad I helped. And about "the whole league", you're right, you have to click on the corner of it. I don't think you've done any damage, but if something goes wrong, you can disable this extension.
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OP: Won't they expel you from the Moderator/Contributor leagues for posting a how-to? ;-)
Thank you so much, this helps immensely! Lately I've developed an unhealthy competitiveness with Leagues. Instead of focusing solely on my learning and personal progression, I've been going over older material that is no longer challenging to me, just so I get to the top three. Turning off the league function will keep me focused on my personal growth and my goals--to maintain my proficiency in my target languages! :)
You are welcome. Yes, it seems that the Leagues have been giving people more touble than actual help - though they very invented to give more motivation for studying. I hope you'll feel better now working calmly without them. :)
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Algarve11 - I continue to find places in the forums where I can insert a link to your post and sing your praises. I hope that you don't mind.
Thanks. I have opted out of the leagues. I found myself doing absurd things just to rack up points. It was worse than slots in Las Vegas
I have to agree I found myself doing the same. You try to rack up point to compete with these people. I've spent the last couple of days opting out of the leagues by making my profile private, so that I can concentrate on learning again. The only drawback I have found is that people I do want to try to keep an eye on (i.e your "friends" disappear), so I have to then make my profile public again. I'm so pleased I found this thread and have managed to get back to the main reason for being on this site - to try (and also to attempt to remember!) to improve my language skills.
Opting out of the leagues has been such a relief for me and it means I no longer sit watching other people.
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What I really liked about this post was that I learned that by going private, leagues go away. I have no interest in following anyone or having followers, so it was neither here nor there for me to be public. I just switched to private, and POOF, leagues are gone!
Glad you found a way to get rid of them. Yes, if one is not interested in following friends or being followed, making the profile private is the best way.
Algarve,
I recently saw a comment that criticized this thread, and I politely disagreed with the author. The leagues were created to increase user traffic, but many have pointed out that for certain personality types engagement has diminished. What can be more compassionate than your solution for these users? I am certain that admin appreciates your help, for two reasons: they now don't "have to" feel pressed to make a software modification in the near future; and also, they will not be losing users who were strongly bothered by the leagues.
Keep up the excellent work, my friend.
Today I finally decided to opt out of the leagues myself and see how that affects my average daily practice. The second method doesn't work with my adblocker (Ghostery). I used the third method -- I added the "styles" extension. Once I got it running it worked like a charm. The leagues are gone and the daily goal with my weekly progress chart took their place!
Advice: get the extension by googling its name. Once it's installed you'll see an S (Stylus) icon on your main menu to the far right.
Next you must open the DL "learn" page. Click on the Stylus icon, then click below on "find styles." There are a number of dark modes that you can also try out. The "Duolingo hide leagues" is toward the bottom of the list. Select that, and enjoy!
There is a bonus in this method -- the extension itself is really cool and can be used in many ways, on most of your favorite sites.
@jairapetyan, thanks for your advice, it's very helpful! Hope you'll enjoy your studies more after quitting the Leagues.
Thank you for the comments. I was in a quandary. I want to learn not compete. I found myself practicing until 3 a.m. after 6 or 7 hours because I fell into the competitive trap. I was suffering from repetitive strain in my wrist and shoulder. Crazy. Much better now that the competition is hidden
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i feel the same way too on some days... but I have learned to just not pay any attention to it. I will say it probably doesn't hurt to get those extra practices in though ;)
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Hi Algarve11 - THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING THIS! (25 lingots for you!) I have installed the uBlock extension but will wait until the close of the current leagues on Sunday evening to complete the rest of the instructions you provided.
In the meantime, I noticed that another extension that I have downloaded no longer works. That extension is described in this post.
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/33368404
Would you please have a look at the link above and see if you can easily provide a solution so that the extension that provides stats is not removed by Ublock?
Many thanks.
Hi Msanjose1, you are welcome. I'm not sure how to solve this problem. Just as a option, you can use Adblock Plus (chrome, firefox, opera) instead of uBlock, it also blocks leagues. I just checked and it looks as if you can use both DuoStrength and Adblocker Plus and both will work fine at the same time. Let me know if you'll need help with blocking elements with Adblock Plus or if you'll have any other problems.
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Algarve11 - Adblocker Plus did not work, but UBlock did! DuoStrength is a cool extension and I wish it could have worked with UBlock but not seeing the scum that frequent the leagues is way healthier for me. I feel like I can learn without distraction again! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! (Another 25 lingots for you!)
Thanks for the lingots! :) I'll post a little later a guide how to block elements with Adblock, it isn't enough just to install it.
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Question: How come your post did not get a lot of responses? I am surprised that this thread isn't three times as long given the number of complaints people have about the leagues?
Yes, that's a strange thing, I myself expected a different reaction. I really don't know why is this.
People are more inclined to complain than to react. Take comfort in that you can help those who desire it.
Also, consider that many of the people who may have taken your advice, may not have returned to thank you. I recall a story where a man brought health to ten men. Only one returned to say thanks.
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Algarve11 - FYI, I reposted your post on my post, at https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/33984285.
Your method #3 is working like a charm on my Macbook Pro running Chrome. I tried #2 awhile ago and weird things happened. Very happy to find a way that works. I can't tell you how relieved I was when the league notifications disappeared. I can go back to leaning my way without being influenced by competition which, for me, doesn't spell learning.
Thanks. Method 1 did not work. Method 3 did. Please accept a lingot for your help
I got over 7000 and finally made it to the Diamond league. Now that I hit that goal I will soon take your advice and go private. Thank you so much for posting this! A lingot for you!
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Congratulations dear EdieOpitz :) I got also 7000 XP and I will leave the leagues now as soon as possible. Have a great time here by Duolingo.
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Dear Algarve11. Thank you so much for your help. You're always there for us here and you are a very nice person. Wish all of us Duolingo members a beautiful day ;)
Thank you for being so kind, I really appreciate your words.
And, of course, I wish all of you a wonderful day. That goes without saying. :)
Dear T:
Update worked like a charm...thanks so much!!!! Back to blocking again and able to get on with life once more. LOL
Why does everyone want to disable the league? What is the problem with it? Sorry, newbie here.
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Some people just don't want to be in that game. In my case, I hate to be used as a reference for others "to beat me" or "make them feel they cannot beat me". I'm here to learn, not to be used in a game I just don't want to be involved in. For me it's irrelevant whether people cheat or not to get higher scores than others, that's up to them. I just want DL to make it an optional feature for all the users.
It makes people focus on getting as many points as possible instead of actually learning the language. Some people just do the same things over and over and get a lot of points without learning anything.
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Thank you for the info. Question: Once I disabled myself from a league and later on wanted to get back onto the league, will I get back to the same level where I left off (Diamond, Ruby...) or it will re-start me from the lowest level? Thanks ahead.
do you still get notifications or emails about your position in the league etc?
When a new week starts I get a notification about the position that I kept in the last League. Every new League appears again on the main page, so I have to block it again.
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Algarve11 - May I suggest that you add your response to merkavar to the text of your original post? It might save you from having to respond to the same question later down the road.
Yes, you're right, thanks for the suggestion. I'll edit my original post.
I'm not sure, I never used Safari. Try to block the Leagues with some ad blocker, as there seems to be no uBlock Origin for Safari.
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Algarve11 - I suggested to testmoogle and dlhgl on my thread that they should start their own post with the solution that they had for blocking leagues. This was to make sure that others can see their idea easily rather than have to search for it through my thread. Alternatively, I wondered if you could take their solution and put it in your original post (giving them credit of course). That way anyone reading my original post will find both your solution and theirs.
What do you think?
That's a very good idea, I certainly shall do it - just in a couple of hours, when I get to my computer.
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Thanks Algarve11, and thanks Msanjose1 for asking!
I think this is the best place to add the solution, because then all the info is in one place.
If you choose the first method, then yes. The other two methods allow you to disable the Leagues without losing the possibility of folowing others and being followed.
This is great. I've searched this forum for this and have finally found it!
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Thank you so much for posting this information. And, thanks to those that figured out these methods and who wrote the scripts. I used method three a week ago and have noticed that I feel less stressed when I do my daily lessons.
Again, THANK YOU !!
Thank you! I just joined a few hours ago and I can already see bad competitive habits forming. I typically don't like to compete but when I know I can gain a lead, I get hooked; not a trait I like to encourage in myself.
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HELP !! This morning, 03/30/2020, the extension appears to have stopped working for me. I have been using "Stylus" for Chrome with the "Duolingo hide leagues" userstyle. I so appreciate it. All was fine yesterday.
I have checked that both Stylus and the "Duolingo hide leagues" userstyle are up-to-date. I have restarted Chrome.
Did Duolingo change the styling for this element on the page?
What else should I try to get it working again?
Windows 10 version 1909 Google Chrome is up to date Version 80.0.3987.149 (Official Build) (64-bit)
No worries! Duolingo did indeed update their homepage today. Thanks for notifying me. I've updated the userstyle so it now functions properly again ;)
I just wanted to say thank you for this. I got caught up in the competitiveness and ended up losing sight of the beauty of learning a new language. And I got a bit anxious too. So this helps a lot!!!
I made my account private using option 1 and what a relief!
Thanks again!
I just did this using instructions from Algarve11. I had to block each league separately followed by the white space to be rid of the ranking. I am so relieved! That competitive game was very distracting and hindered my learning. It promoted binge learning which is ineffective. Now I can resume learning. Thank you for this information.
Thanks so much for this. The leaderboards on desktop are so distracting; they're right there on the tree so I can't seem to help watching them every time I do a lesson and seeing how I've advanced compared to other folks. (At least on mobile they're buried under a different tab.)
I didn't want to make my profile private. This is a much more friendly solution!
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Yes that's right. I'm just looking for the point where I can turn this feature off. Under the league pictures. I see the red arrow in your picture, which shows me the word "CREATE", which I should click on. But I can not click on anything. Sorry for my questions, I hope I 'm not annoying you :)
Do I understand right that after right-clicking and selecting "block" you have the same window as in my screenshot but no button "create"?
What browser are you using?
Be sure that when you select the League, it's all selected (it must be all red, as in my screenshot). If the "create" button still doesn't appear, try to delete the extension and install it again. Also you can try to block some other details on the page (some ads, for example) and see if it works.
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Thank you a lot for answering my question. My problem is, that I can't see the option Block item. I use Firefox.
That's strange. Some people from the Russian forum use uBlock with Firefox and everything is working fine. Try either to check if your Firefox is up-to-date (if you use the latest version) or, as I said in my previous comment, delete the extension and install it again. If that doesn't work, I don't know what else to suggest. Of course, you always can try Chrome. And by the way if you practice Duolingo from Chrome, you'll also have microphone exercises.
I'm sorry it doesn't work. I'm not sure what to suggest now.
About screenshots. Duolingo uses Markdown, so posting pictures takes a bit of trouble. Comment: there's no necessity for you to post any screenshot. But anyway I'll write here how to do it:
First, make a screenshot and upload it to some hosting of pictures (for example Imgur, you can use it without registration). Then copy the link of the uploaded screenshot. Then go to your comment and write:
putting your link instead of the word "link".
You are welcome, I only wish I could help more. Have a good day and good luck with your studies! :)
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I also want to send a screenshot. How did you do this? I am very impressed. It does not work. I've installed the new Firefox and added uBlock origin, but can not click anything to change or delete the leagues. Unfortunately, I have no special knowledge. The window in which I can create the "preview"... CREATE PICK QUIT ...does not work. I take the right mouse button and nothing happens. Thank you for your time and explanations. Have a nice day. :)
Hi Mao, I see you didn't post a screenshot, here is more information, if you need it: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/32666710
Also, you could try a different ad-blocker extension, it worked for me. Any extension that allows you to block elements of a page should do the trick. Hope that helps.
Oh, that is bull. Duolingo should give us the option to turn it off, we shouldn't have to edit our HTML to make it happen? This doesn't block it on the app. I'm sorry, this is not the answer.
Well they didn't invent the userstyle method... I made the style that hides it, because I saw that not everybody liked leagues. Didn't advertise or anything so I can see where the confusion could've occured. Thanks for recommending my userstyle though :D
Although I may add that the style it applies really simple is. Therefore I put it in the public domain because I knew people would create the exact same script anyway and I don't need credit for five lines of code.
@Thiibo., thank you, thank you for making the script! I edited my post now, giving you the credit.
When I did the 3rd option, I downloaded Stylus, but then when I turned it off, it still has the leagues. When I have it on, it does. Will I have a notification that says I got in 1st place and get this many lingots?
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You will get the same notifications as without Stylus. Option 2 and 3 don't turn the Leagues off but just hide them so that you don't see them anymore.
I beg your pardon, did you post this comment just so that someone would have an opportunity to give you all these lingots? Or do you actually need to know what "right click" is? Because you can find the answer in Google very easily:
Sorry. I actually need to know what right click is. I have other Duolingo accounts which is so my fault. I can give myself lingots.
It's totally ok! :) I was just wondering where from all these lingots came.)))
So, when I said "right-click on the League" I meant that you need to select you League by pressing on it the right-hand button of a computer mouse. Hope this helps.
Enjoy your learning and Merry Christmas to you!
Are you from a laptop then? I don't have one myself but I believe there must be a button for that somewhere...
Found this: https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-right-click-on-a-laptop
...two buttons below the trackpad for the mouse. The left button is for left-clicking, and the right button is for right-clicking.
Or if your laptop doesn't have these buttons, there are some other possibilities described in the article. Hope this helps...
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Thank you, especially for the link to privacy settings, which I just couldn't find anywhere. Leagues turned off, I can learn at my own pace without stressing over points. Have a lingot. Xx
An excellent tip! Worked like a dream. And removed what was becoming a minor nightmare :). Cheers!
Hi, I have the impression that it's not possible anymore to set your profile on private. I searched for the function, but couldn't find neither in the app nor in the web version. Do you have any further ideas how to opt out in the app?
Hi. You can set your account on private using a mobile browser and then return to the app. That should work.
Thanks for your answer. I found it now. The only possible way for me was to literally write the link https://www.duolingo.com/settings/privacy into the browser as the function cannot be found directly on the Duolingo site.
Thank you. I wish Duolingo was somewhat like the website CafeMocha which is gone now sadly but used have a facility where members could help each other learn a language. One could choose to help students in one's own language i.e. correct simple written assignments etc. I've opted out of the competitive element on Duo but enjoying it even more now.
Thank you! Like others, I find it quite distracting to do lessons just for the sake of maintaining my position in the leaderboard. It gives me a sense of failing every time I get notified of losing my position, even though I am actually here to learn :)) High school anxiety all over, ain't nobody got time for that :)
Duolingo updated their homepage today which broke the "Duolingo hide leagues" userstyle and quite possibly also the blocking via an adblocker.
If you are using the userstyle method, you should just have to update the userstyle. I have already made an update available for it which makes it work again. Click on the Stylus icon and click on the 'Manage' button (the first button). Then find the "Duolingo hide leagues" userstyle and click on the update button.
If you are hiding the leagues with an adblocker, try doing the same steps described in the post over again to fix the issue.
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I also use Firefox and, fortunately, I managed to erase the leagues out of my PC screen once again by following the option number 2 of this board yet another time.
Thank you so much, this is brilliant. The userstyle trick worked for me. I use the Adblock (and Firefox), but somehow couldn't make it work here.
That's weird. Anyway, I'm glad you found a solution that worked for you. :)
nice feature! I will apply just after making an attempt for legendary achievement
thankyou for this! sometimes the leagues can get in the way of actually learning the language!
Thanks for this, I really don't like the leagues, but it's really hard for me to just ignore it for some reason. Btw, I really like the second method, it's very easy.
Thank you!
Note: I liked the third option best instead of 'hiding' leagues and howing blank space, it removes it altogether and then your own 'XP Progress' appears on top which is provides a healthy level of motivation without the competition.
Thank you much! Now I finally have access to a leaderboard free duolingo, but with followers!😁
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Thanks ... Since there's no way to communicate with "friends" here, I can't even regret not seeing what those "high tension" folks are doing with their lives...
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I ranted about unable to exit leagues until a good Samaritan directed me here. Thank Heavens he (or she) did.
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Thanks very much! I needed to get rid of those leagues so badly. The Adblocker tip worked, I just used the Adblocker I already had on my laptop. phew....
Ho....mygosh....I have my life, back! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! :* <3
Thanks a million Algarve. The option to go private is not in my app or desktop settings. I was only able to see this option by clicking on the link you provided. It worked. It is freaky being followed by strangers who want to beat you in the leagues. Now I can forget about all that and simply focus on language learning.
I've only just come across your post and what a wonderful post! I used the privacy option and within seconds I was free from the annoyance, frustration and waste of webpage space that is Leagues and Leaderships. I have given you many lingots as a thank you for making my homepage free from a competition I don't want! :)
How do you get the "100%" bar, and the "you need to stenghten..." a script?
I don’t have privacy settings, only the privacy statement. I learn on the app, so how do I remove it then?
So i was wondering, if i use the 1st method and make my profile private will my league decrease back to obsidian? I'm in the Diamond league and thinking about deleting/disabling the leagues option but i was just wondering what would happen if i turn it back on next week.
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If you use the first method and make your profile private you will not join a new leaderboard, which means you will stay in the same league as long as your profile is private.
The only exception is when you make your profile private while you are still in a leaderboard competition. In this case you will stay in this leaderboard and may be demoted or promoted at the end of the leaderboard week. From then on you will not join a new leaderboard.
I tried this several times now. My profile was set to private for a few weeks. Then I made my profile public again and was still in the same league.
Hint: You can join a new leaderboard anytime except the last 24 hours of a leaderboard week. I prefer to compete in a leaderboard only on the weekend from time to time, which means I make my profile public on Friday or Saturday and make it private again after the leaderboard competition ended. This works really well and it seems that people who join the leaderboard only on the weekend usually don't collect an insane amount of XP (there may be exceptions though) which makes it more fun and motivating.
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dlhgl - This is a side question to you regarding going private. When one goes private and then public again, does that person get to keep the list of people that they are following or does the list go away?
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The list of people you are following or being followed stays the same. You cannot see the friends list anymore on your learning page but you can still see it on your profile (at least this is how it works for me).
Also others can still see a person they are following in their list after that person made the profile private.
Thanks again for the clarification! I edited my original post adding this information.
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Thanks for maintaining your original post and making it better and better :)
One more info that may be useful:
Option 2 and 3 only hide the leagues within a browser while making the profile private disables the leagues everywhere, i.e. they are disabled in the Duolingo app, too.
I just tried it: first made my profile private and then made it public again. My position in the Sapphire League was the same after the experiment. So I guess making your profile private doesn't mean decreasing to the first League - thought I can't be totally sure here.
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Hi Algarve11! Since it seems your thread will continue to get attention (since it is so helpful), so do you think perhaps the original post should be modified (yet again) to include the information about what will happen to league standing? It could save you time having to respond to this question in the future.
As always, thank you.
You are quite right, I'll edit the thread soon. Thanks for the suggestion.
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Daan31324 - Regardless of the option you select, I think your name is put in a league every week. So your league level will go up, down or stay the same depending on how your numbers compare with others in your league even if you choose not to see the leagues. This is my experience after employing Option 2 (on desktop computer) and occasionally peeking on my Ipad.
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This is correct for option 2 and 3 (hiding the league panel), but not for option 1 (making your profile private).
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Can we have the league option turned off without making our profiles public? I think we should have an option to do that.
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@jediyeap
You probably mean without making the user profile PRIVATE ;)
This was already covered in the official staff thread "XP and Leaderboards updates": https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/35079191
They are working on it....
- 545
Yeah. I just saw that after I posted this. Hahaha! I would not prefer the ad blocker option though because I can still fall from the current leagues I am in. Hopefully it will become something real pretty soon! BTW, kudos to your language skills. You'll have to help me with my German sometimes! Hahaha
- 1002
I could download Stylus blue, but could not find "Duolingo hide leagues". So, leagues are not hidden. Is this still something that can be done?
- 1595
@Ritchie_Smith
You need to install the userstyle: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/33984285/How-to-get-rid-of-leagues-without-making-your-profile-private-and-thereby-keeping-your-friends
The css style should automatically activate in the Stylus addon; if not, you need to manually activate it (the "Manage" button at the bottom).
- 1595
Now I see, the userstyles org website is also directly referenced in THIS thread as the Step 3: https://userstyles.org/styles/172615/duolingo-hide-leagues
Make sure to IGNORE all "Stylish" (addon) popup announcements on the userstyles domain: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/27870688/SECURITY-ISSUE-Warning-Stylish-addon-is-unsafe-contains-tracker-sends-collected-data
The addon has been banned from both Firefox and Chrome stores for a while when this security tracking issue came up....now they seem to be back...
- 1574
I wouldn't recommend Stylish any more. Better use Stylus instead. It is Open Source and doesn't track you.
I heard that Stylus also tracks you. In fact, at some point I lost it, perhaps after a Chrome update, and I haven't reinstalled it. I don't think one more tracking device really matters now though, we are all tracked...
This is from the Stylus add-on description in Firefox (as of v. 1.5.11):
Stylus uses only a small subset of each permission. As you can see in WebExtensions API documentation or simplified tutorials, there's no way to apply any modifications to a web page without gaining the full access permission to that page. Stylus is mostly used to apply global themes, which is why it requests a global permission. In the future we might be able to implement a more granular approach but it's not exactly trivial.
- Access your data for all websites - required for the style elements to be added into the page, not to access any of your data.
- Access browser tabs - required to show styles in the popup, and for some auxiliary features like regexp tester in the editor.
- Access browser activity during navigation - required to insert the styles at the exact moment the page is navigated to a different URL.
- Identity - required for access to cloud services to allow importing and exporting of styles (e.g. Dropbox, etc).
Privacy Policy
Unlike other similar extensions, we don't find you to be all that interesting. Your questionable browsing history should remain between you and the NSA. Stylus collects nothing. Period.
I use Darklingo++ with Stylus – it doesn't work with Stylish.
- 2487
Thank you so very much Algarve11 for this. It was fun going through the different leagues, but then I got to the point where I felt pressured to compete and it was not fun anymore. Today I used method No. 1 and I feel relieved. Now I can keep learning at my own pace without being distracted by staying in the leagues. That feels so good. Thank you :-)
- 12
But remember, if you apply the first method, you won't be able to follow other users nor being followed. For me, for example, it is not an option. Actually, for me the only real option is to make leagues an option. Only DL knows why they don't just do it.
Dear Foblin: I totally understand why you feel the way that you do. As someone who has voiced similar concerns I can tell you they will fall on deaf ears, so rather than bang your head you need to move on...and I don't say that in a mean way. I have been on DL for just over a year now and leagues totally derailed me. I was onto a pattern of learning that was working for me but then the leagues came and I found myself struggling to stay afloat and NOT learning. Once I could make them go away I could get back to learning. My learning is not what it had been. I just reached 92 days for the 4th time and I hope this time to keep it going. My latest struggle are "cracked eggs" which have slowed me down. I just would like to learn at my pace and in my own way but DL isn't designed for that. So, I have shut off the leagues and soon I will teach myself to shut off the "Cracked Eggs" and just keep going. I only get to do one lesson a day...and I totally agree with you that there are more voices here who also feel leagues are NOT good. We should have been given an opt out option but thankfully the "block" option works and that has been good for many of us.
I am impressed that you have attempted so many languages, I struggle to do two, I also find myself distracted by "bells and whistles" so I have had to cut my time and just focus solely on one lesson a day.
Find what works for you, fight the battles you can win and walk away from the ones that are wasting your time. Just know, many of us support how you feel, don't give up on your learning just know that "poking" at windmills will only waste your time. DL does what it does and for some people it works, for others we need to adapt it to make it work for us. Good luck to you. AND have some of my useless lingots for you pain. LOL
- 12
Thanks for your words. I totally agree with you. As you say, finding what works for each of us and focusing on it is paramount. Let's all do that as much as we can even when the environment doesn't help. ;) Best luck to you too!
I just finally gave up the leagues. People cheated. Duo had special perks for Apple users that weren't available on a PC or on Android (like double points for special tests and at special times). I did all the stories in French, Spanish, German and Portuguese, and found myself doing low-level intros in Hungarian and the like just to rack up points. It made no sense., I have better things to do with my life.
- 12
They are not an issue for those who find them useful and/or enjoy them, and that's absolutely fine.
They are an issue for others who still wonder why on earth they aren't a totally optional feature yet.
- 12
Thanks to this post I had managed to live without having to see the leagues for 8 months whenever I logged on my PC (not so lucky on the mobile, but there you have to pro-actively look for the leagues to see them, so, at least, it wasn't so pupil-g.rating) but they popped back out yesterday. ¡Qué vergüenza ajena!
I managed to rub them out once again by following step 2 of this post (THANX!) but I still feel fired up and ranty about the fact they use your stats for those races of them whether you want them or not. It is sth quite unnecessary and gnashy for me.
I guess it's just making bigger money or sth similarly unlinguistically low, otherwise I cannot figure out at all why on earth the feature didn't go truly optional shortly after being created.
Hi @Foblin,
so glad that you managed to disable the Leagues again, since that makes you happier.
I am not a Duolingo developer - in fact, I am not a developer at all - but in spite of it I must disagree with you about this feature making bigger money or using any personal information except your Duolingo username.
It looks to me as if this feature was invented to give people extra motivation - and indeed it helps some users to go on with their lessons day after day. But as we all are different, one man's motivation is another man's inconvenience - so a feature that was invented with a very good intention has become a bother to some of us. But there's no reason to suppose that this feature is actually using personal info or making money in any way.
- 12
Hi, Algarve11,
First of all thanks so much once again for this thread that has helped so many people (me, somehow, included).
Of course I might be wrong, I don't have all the facts but under the same light I might be right as well. Possibly we both are partially wrong and right because the issue might be more nuanced.
Anyway what else could the reason be?
Technical problems? I find it unlikely unless the code is somehow botched and even then that shouldn't be an issue but an excuse to start fixing up things.
DL not bothering? Of course it might happen that we, people not wanting the leagues at all, are a minority, a fraction... or just we are not noisy enough for DL. Not everybody finds leagues useful or desirable and of those, logically, only some do vent out publicly about it which might make seem we are even fewer. The opposite is equally also possible: that the known number of unhappy people is clearly relevant but DL don't reck at all. I don't know. Do you? Does anybody except them know?
Gamification of DL? The main success reason of DL is its gamification of language learning. Gamifying DL further more (it's already quite gamified without leagues) and making features optional shouldn't be an issue. Actually, the more one can adjust settings to one's needs and experience, the better for all the community.
Those above are my other guesses... but the fact persist: I still haven't heard any DL statement about why they don't make leagues optional. Why? I wonder if:
- They might have said sth but I never heard it.
- They are not aware of the issue at all (sth I find unlikely).
- They're just taking their unnecessary looong time to make an informative statement.
- They know about it but they don't consider it an issue (they shouldn't).
- They're aware of the issue but they are just playing the no-issue card by avoiding the topic.
Meanwhile I find it unnecessarily disgraceful.
Leagues wouldn’t be so bad if you did have obvious cheaters. Like what’s the point of cheating at something like that? I was in diamond League for months before I realized there was no way I was going to be able to make 4,000+ XP in a week. I had a hunch that there was some kind of bot people were using to get XP, so I googled it and what do ya know?! https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/34272150/Quitting-leagues-due-to-cheaters
Just noticed your (this) post and I selected option 4 to stop seeing the leagues. I'm sure I saw it elsewhere but cannot find the URL now. I created myself a school and join that. No leagues no hastle (as yet) However I also noticed other things like you mentioned above. I cannot follow people anylonger, mature content is unavailable (even though I have the ALL WORDS box ticked) perhaps it is just me, however off late (since Dark mode) the Duo App , webite etc has had a lot more bugs and bumps in the road (Hey i'm not shouting , just trying to inform) I see many many posts in the forum with this or that doesn't work and while I understnad the Duo team have to proirities their work an instie into it is being worked on.... or It might make it towards the top of that list by next Chriustams would at least give users an idea and dare I say push them into action (ad blockers, change site settings etc... etc... in an attempt to try and move past the issue that they are facing) Hey !!! like I say no shouting or drama from me (nothing to be seen , please move on :-)
Thanks for this.I have gone with option 1 and made the profile private. I didn't realise it would be this simple. On the desktop version the leader board has disappeared. The league was a good idea to stimulate learning and I have been in the Diamond league for some time. But seeing the impossible gains being made of hundreds of points in seconds on a Monday morning has been disheartening and I have had to cram on the easier Spanish course on Sunday evenings just to stay up after a week on Welsh. I am now going out at the bottom of the top league.
Just a reminder: if you are in the demotion zone when going private you will not stay in Diamond, but drop a league. It however is a great option for peace of mind, so if it stresses you out just stay in private mode.
Happy learning!
then if i dont want ot block and mistakely i had block sohow can i unblock them if suppose
Yes, you can always unblock the Leagues back by making your profile public again (1) or going to the settings of your adblocker and deleting the unnecessary filters (2) or disabling the script (3).
Thank you I hate the Leagues - I have corresponded with Duolingo on numerous occasions, as if I am a paying 'Plus' customer I should not have to put up with BS especially people learning crap languages and cheating with BOTS.
Hello @RemasAzez,
You can make your account public in the settings or via this link:
https://www.duolingo.com/settings/privacy
If you don't see this feature in the app, try accessing Duolingo through duolingo.com
