5 ms·

An update on uBlock

72 points by mattbit 8y ago

wallabie 8y ago
Cue the YouTube video of Michael Scott saying "No God, please no. Noooo!" uBlock was the AdBlock when AdBlock sold out. Now who will be the uBlock now that uBlock has sold out? And this is separate to uBlock Origin, right?
- maxerickson 8y ago
  uBlock Origin will continue being uBlock Origin, there's no real issue from that standpoint, no one should have been using uBlock anyway.
- mileycyrusXOXO 8y ago
  Correct, uBlock is separate from uBlock Origin.
- daxterspeed 8y ago
  uBlock Origin is the uBlock. A few years ago, back when uBlock Origin was just uBlock, gorhill (it's sole developer at the time) entrusted the uBlock development to what was supposed to be a community effort. Instead a single developer took over and essentially did nothing with the extension except place donation links to himself in the extension and on the website. It didn't take long until gorhill himself noticed and decided to pick development back up - under the new name of uBlock Origin. To this date uBlock has barely seen any development while uBlock Origin is actively maintained. You can find gorhill's reaction on Twitter https://twitter.com/gorhill/status/1019975271443771392 https://twitter.com/gorhill/status/1019975271443771392
- 1centHistorian 8y ago
  https://www.reddit.com/r/ublock/comments/32mos6/ublock_vs_ublock_origin/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ublock/comments/32mos6/ublock_vs_ub... https://github.com/uBlock-LLC/uBlock/issues/1706 https://github.com/uBlock-LLC/uBlock/issues/1706 Basically what AdBlock bought is the technical right to say "this extension is the original uBlock project" which is a part of narrative on https://www.ublock.org/announcement/ https://www.ublock.org/announcement/ https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock/epcnnfbjfcgphgdmggkamkmgojdagdnn/reviews https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock/epcnnfbjfcg... but as far as community is concerned it died when it was transferred over and resurrected shortly after under a new repo on Gorhils account
rlabrecque 8y ago
https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-is-completely-unrelated-to-the-web-site-ublock.org https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-is-comp...
- AH4oFVbPT4f8 8y ago
  Why doesn't ublock origin change its name to something else to avoid this confusion?
  - dghughes 8y ago
    Well, isn't that moot since UBlock (not origin) will probably now be called AdBlock?
    - hendersoon 8y ago
      I rather doubt that, as much of uBlock non-Origin's userbase is comprised of people who installed it by accident instead of uBlock Origin. Its only real value is in its name.
      - mosselman 8y ago
        "as much of uBlock non-Origin's userbase is comprised of people who installed it by accident instead of uBlock Origin" How do you know this? Is there a source?
  - hk__2 8y ago
    uBlock Origin shouldn’t change its name just because someone made a scammy website off its name. The issue is the website, not uBlock Origin.
    - ripdog 8y ago
      That's not what happened. uBlock Origin was originally (heh) uBlock. Gorhill, the developer, got sick of endless hordes of people posting github issues about unblocked ads (an issue which should be directed at blocklist maintainers), so he gave the uBlock project away to some teenager. It turned out that the kid didn't have the skills to continue the project. He basically ported the addon to Safari and put a donation beg message up on the website. Gorhill soon returned to the project, but was unable to get the rights to it back, so forked it as uBlock Origin. IIRC this was in 2015 or so. Ever since, Origin has been the only adblocker worth using.
3ds 8y ago
Time for a new fork!
- ripdog 8y ago
  There's no need for a new fork. uBlock Origin is the good adblocker, and it is not related to this announcement. It's still as fantastic as ever, and has not changed hands.
subway 8y ago
Heh: uBlock Origin has prevented the following page from loading: https://www.ublock.org/announcement/ https://www.ublock.org/announcement/ Because of the following filter ||ublock.org^$document
michaelhoffman 8y ago
I'm using uBlock Origin and get uBlock Origin has prevented the following page from loading: https://www.ublock.org/announcement/ Because of the following filter ||ublock.org^$document Found in: uBlock filters – Badware risks
- Frenchgeek 8y ago
  Confirmed. I non longer use uBlock Origin.
  - tgtweak 8y ago
    I thought it was a bit amusing.
  - deskamess 8y ago
    Isn't ublock origin the 'good one'?
    - hendersoon 8y ago
      Yes, that is correct.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- 18pfsmt 8y ago
  There seems to be lots of confusion around this topic. gorhill is the original author of uBlock, but when he handed the project off to someone else, he found that they didn't live up to ethical standards, which is why gorhill started uBlock Origin. That other person owns ublock.org, so it makes sense to filter that domain.
  - chucksmash 8y ago
    Thanks for the background. The relevant Wikipedia page doesn't provide detail beyond "a fork happened" and I was curious how the project creator ended up on the side of the fork with a different name and no access to the original domain.
trash_panda 8y ago
A good solution I've found for ad blocking is using the following hosts file: https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts Which sinkholes every known ad/malicious domain. It's been pretty useful, and it hasn't broken nothing important yet.
- __s 8y ago
  I've been using http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm anyone know how they compare? (reading github description, seems it includes this as a source, but also others)
  - trash_panda 8y ago
    A quick line count shows that the file from your link has 14354 entries, while the one on the github repo has 65357.
    - dghughes 8y ago
      My brain read that as 65537.
      - yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
        Well, people like nice, round numbers:)
myf01d 8y ago
Wasn't this the same asshole who hijacked gorhill's work 4 years ago and even asked for money for others' work? now he sold others' work? what a scumbag!
- visualphoenix 8y ago
  Yup
ad1ttya 8y ago
From Ublock Origin's github(https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock): uBlock Origin is (and has always been) COMPLETELY UNRELATED to the web site ublock.org. edit: and here is a commit blocking the site ublock.org - https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/commit/82067d1ef33702fd1abd12fd31a0336bac28c41d https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/commit/82067d1ef3370...
visualphoenix 8y ago
deleted
- maxerickson 8y ago
  Your phrasing is a bit awkward. Just to avoid confusion, Raymond Hill is the original developer, some other fellow took over the uBlock project.
  - gruez 8y ago
    chris aljoudi, to be exact. he's also the author of the Purify adblocker on iOS.
- AuthorizedCust 8y ago
  It's uBlock Origin. Adblock Origin (the phrase you footnoted) doesn't exist.
Tiki 8y ago
Self-hosted DNS solution with an easy setup and a nice web GUI to manage it. https://pi-hole.net/ https://pi-hole.net/ https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole
- tw04 8y ago
  Pi-hole has made some pretty poor blocking choices in the past, so use at your own risk. For instance, they randomly decided to block *.microsoft.com - you can imagine the chaos that caused.
  - driverdan 8y ago
    Only chaos if you run Windows. I wouldn't even notice if it was blocked.
    - tw04 8y ago
      Right, so only chaos for 99%+ of the corporations in the US...
    - gruez 8y ago
      >Only chaos if you run Windows so breaking 80+% (being a bit conservative here) of people's computers is okay?
      - yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
        The relevant question is whether it's 80% of people who are using pihole; that number is probably still pretty high, but lower than the average population I expect.
    - larkeith 8y ago
      > Only chaos if you run Windows Or develop for Windows, or have a client who uses Windows, or neer to access any of the documentation on MSDN, or...
  - mirimir 8y ago
echelon 8y ago
There appears to be so much confusion in this thread about whether or not this involves the open source uBlock Origin. uBlock Origin should seriously consider rebranding to distance itself from the commercial uBlock.
newscracker 8y ago
Anyone who wants a low overhead and trusted ad blocker should use uBlock Origin. The developer even refuses to take any donations (for some good reasons). For those who want a lot more control and a content blocker, uMatrix would help. Anything named as “Adblock” or “Adblock Plus” or similar is just a way for advertisers to decide what ads users see and don’t see, depending on how much they’re willing to pay and be held hostage to such extensions.
- IntelMiner 8y ago
  +1 to uBlock Origin Amusingly, trying to load the uBlock website was initially blocked by uBlock Origin!
  - NextHendrix 8y ago
    Was also blocked for me which confused me until I noticed the different shape of the logo
  - tmikaeld 8y ago
    Still blocked for me
    - detaro 8y ago
      I guess the parent meant "until I confirmed I want to look at the page". There's no reason for uBlock origin to remove the block.
- skybrian 8y ago
  The Adblock Plus ad policy seems to be somewhat different: https://adblockplus.org/acceptable-ads#criteria https://adblockplus.org/acceptable-ads#criteria I mean, sure, uBlock origin is most often recommended around here. But let's not be misleading about products we don't like.
  - bhhaskin 8y ago
    I don't think that description is misleading at all. Adblock Plus does not block all ads and they control which ads are displayed and which aren't. If anything the name Adblock is miss leading.
propogandist 8y ago
a crowd-fundraising round to help uBlock's actual founder may help him fend off competition from AdBlock, using his own (uBlock) brand name
hk__2 8y ago
> If you’ve noticed recent updates to the product, that’s because uBlock has been acquired by the team responsible for AdBlock. We will be investing heavily into uBlock to help it deliver on the promise of being one of the best ad blockers available. Why would they invest "heavily into uBlock" instead of improving AdBlock? It doesn’t make sense to maintain two different ad blockers.
- timbit42 8y ago
  Because they are more interested in profits and more subscribers than blocking ads. Also, Adblock is more memory and CPU intensive, so perhaps they are looking to fix those issues in Adblock.
se7entime 8y ago
Found in: uBlock filters – Badware risks By uBlock Origin
- mosselman 8y ago
  I know what you mean because I have gotten te same screen, but if I hadn't I would have no idea what you mean by your comment. If it is your intention to be understood, try to add some context and full sentences.
squarefoot 8y ago
I think this Soylent News article summarizes the situation pretty well. https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/05/17/028245 https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/05/17/028245 tl;dr: the real one is Ublock Origin, get it here: https://github.com/gorhill/ublock https://github.com/gorhill/ublock From the same author I would also suggest uMatrix, sort of a NoScript on steroids which allows a much finer filtering literally ripping pages of a great deal of their junk more selectively, but be aware that it requires "training" (telling it this can be loaded, that cannot) which for some non technical people could be annoying.
- nasredin 8y ago
  Nope. Ublock & umatrix still don't block autoplaying videos. You should still use NoScript. IMHO if you push small cosmetic changes in the UI in every update, like Gorhill does, there's a problem. He has a poor attitide IMHO.
  - makecheck 8y ago
    So you’re saying that someone investing tons of free time in software that greatly benefits countless people, and then gives it away for free, has problems because of a minor update you don’t like and have absolutely zero right to complain about?
  - bpierre 8y ago
    Firefox does block auto playing videos and asks the user to explicitly allow it, in the same way access to the webcam / mic / location / notifications is managed. https://www.cnet.com/news/firefox-users-finally-get-option-to-block-autoplay-video-audio/ https://www.cnet.com/news/firefox-users-finally-get-option-t...
mattbit 8y ago
It seems like they are just trying to steal the name of uBlock. AdBlock CEO says they “do love the name” [0] and are "investing heavily" into the product, but the commits in the repo [1] are just cosmetic changes and rebranding. Oddly enough, the only active committer is anonymous. I wonder if this will cause legal troubles to the true uBlock Origin. [0]: https://twitter.com/judemaier/status/1020034358558670848 https://twitter.com/judemaier/status/1020034358558670848 [1]: https://github.com/uBlock-LLC/uBlock/commits/master https://github.com/uBlock-LLC/uBlock/commits/master
OnlyRepliesToBS 8y ago
A HAYSTACK of words to convey: WE SOLD OUT.
eric24234 8y ago
Was a user of "Adblock plus". They partnered with ad agencies and started to whitelist ads. That defeted the whole purpose and also it became clear the for profit organizations can not fight against the ad agencies as they have to partner if they want to make profit. Ublock origin is so much awesome.Its free software and also very easy to use and its actually much more than adblocker.

72 points by mattbit 8y ago

Cue the YouTube video of Michael Scott saying "No God, please no. Noooo!" uBlock was the AdBlock when AdBlock sold out. Now who will be the uBlock now that uBlock has sold out? And this is separate to uBlock Origin, right?

maxerickson 8y ago
uBlock Origin will continue being uBlock Origin, there's no real issue from that standpoint, no one should have been using uBlock anyway.
mileycyrusXOXO 8y ago
Correct, uBlock is separate from uBlock Origin.
daxterspeed 8y ago
uBlock Origin is the uBlock. A few years ago, back when uBlock Origin was just uBlock, gorhill (it's sole developer at the time) entrusted the uBlock development to what was supposed to be a community effort. Instead a single developer took over and essentially did nothing with the extension except place donation links to himself in the extension and on the website. It didn't take long until gorhill himself noticed and decided to pick development back up - under the new name of uBlock Origin. To this date uBlock has barely seen any development while uBlock Origin is actively maintained. You can find gorhill's reaction on Twitter https://twitter.com/gorhill/status/1019975271443771392 https://twitter.com/gorhill/status/1019975271443771392
1centHistorian 8y ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/ublock/comments/32mos6/ublock_vs_ublock_origin/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ublock/comments/32mos6/ublock_vs_ub... https://github.com/uBlock-LLC/uBlock/issues/1706 https://github.com/uBlock-LLC/uBlock/issues/1706 Basically what AdBlock bought is the technical right to say "this extension is the original uBlock project" which is a part of narrative on https://www.ublock.org/announcement/ https://www.ublock.org/announcement/ https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock/epcnnfbjfcgphgdmggkamkmgojdagdnn/reviews https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock/epcnnfbjfcg... but as far as community is concerned it died when it was transferred over and resurrected shortly after under a new repo on Gorhils account

rlabrecque 8y ago

https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-is-completely-unrelated-to-the-web-site-ublock.org https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-is-comp...

AH4oFVbPT4f8 8y ago
Why doesn't ublock origin change its name to something else to avoid this confusion?
- dghughes 8y ago
  Well, isn't that moot since UBlock (not origin) will probably now be called AdBlock?
  - hendersoon 8y ago
    I rather doubt that, as much of uBlock non-Origin's userbase is comprised of people who installed it by accident instead of uBlock Origin. Its only real value is in its name.
    - mosselman 8y ago
      "as much of uBlock non-Origin's userbase is comprised of people who installed it by accident instead of uBlock Origin" How do you know this? Is there a source?
- hk__2 8y ago
  uBlock Origin shouldn’t change its name just because someone made a scammy website off its name. The issue is the website, not uBlock Origin.
  - ripdog 8y ago
    That's not what happened. uBlock Origin was originally (heh) uBlock. Gorhill, the developer, got sick of endless hordes of people posting github issues about unblocked ads (an issue which should be directed at blocklist maintainers), so he gave the uBlock project away to some teenager. It turned out that the kid didn't have the skills to continue the project. He basically ported the addon to Safari and put a donation beg message up on the website. Gorhill soon returned to the project, but was unable to get the rights to it back, so forked it as uBlock Origin. IIRC this was in 2015 or so. Ever since, Origin has been the only adblocker worth using.

3ds 8y ago

Time for a new fork!

ripdog 8y ago
There's no need for a new fork. uBlock Origin is the good adblocker, and it is not related to this announcement. It's still as fantastic as ever, and has not changed hands.

subway 8y ago

Heh: uBlock Origin has prevented the following page from loading: https://www.ublock.org/announcement/ https://www.ublock.org/announcement/ Because of the following filter ||ublock.org^$document

michaelhoffman 8y ago

I'm using uBlock Origin and get uBlock Origin has prevented the following page from loading: https://www.ublock.org/announcement/ Because of the following filter ||ublock.org^$document Found in: uBlock filters – Badware risks

Frenchgeek 8y ago
Confirmed. I non longer use uBlock Origin.
- tgtweak 8y ago
  I thought it was a bit amusing.
- deskamess 8y ago
  Isn't ublock origin the 'good one'?
  - hendersoon 8y ago
    Yes, that is correct.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
18pfsmt 8y ago
There seems to be lots of confusion around this topic. gorhill is the original author of uBlock, but when he handed the project off to someone else, he found that they didn't live up to ethical standards, which is why gorhill started uBlock Origin. That other person owns ublock.org, so it makes sense to filter that domain.
- chucksmash 8y ago
  Thanks for the background. The relevant Wikipedia page doesn't provide detail beyond "a fork happened" and I was curious how the project creator ended up on the side of the fork with a different name and no access to the original domain.

trash_panda 8y ago

A good solution I've found for ad blocking is using the following hosts file: https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts Which sinkholes every known ad/malicious domain. It's been pretty useful, and it hasn't broken nothing important yet.

__s 8y ago
I've been using http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm anyone know how they compare? (reading github description, seems it includes this as a source, but also others)
- trash_panda 8y ago
  A quick line count shows that the file from your link has 14354 entries, while the one on the github repo has 65357.
  - dghughes 8y ago
    My brain read that as 65537.
    - yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
      Well, people like nice, round numbers:)

myf01d 8y ago

Wasn't this the same asshole who hijacked gorhill's work 4 years ago and even asked for money for others' work? now he sold others' work? what a scumbag!

visualphoenix 8y ago
Yup

ad1ttya 8y ago

From Ublock Origin's github(https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock): uBlock Origin is (and has always been) COMPLETELY UNRELATED to the web site ublock.org. edit: and here is a commit blocking the site ublock.org - https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/commit/82067d1ef33702fd1abd12fd31a0336bac28c41d https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/commit/82067d1ef3370...

visualphoenix 8y ago

deleted

maxerickson 8y ago
Your phrasing is a bit awkward. Just to avoid confusion, Raymond Hill is the original developer, some other fellow took over the uBlock project.
- gruez 8y ago
  chris aljoudi, to be exact. he's also the author of the Purify adblocker on iOS.
AuthorizedCust 8y ago
It's uBlock Origin. Adblock Origin (the phrase you footnoted) doesn't exist.

Tiki 8y ago

Self-hosted DNS solution with an easy setup and a nice web GUI to manage it. https://pi-hole.net/ https://pi-hole.net/ https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole

tw04 8y ago
Pi-hole has made some pretty poor blocking choices in the past, so use at your own risk. For instance, they randomly decided to block *.microsoft.com - you can imagine the chaos that caused.
- driverdan 8y ago
  Only chaos if you run Windows. I wouldn't even notice if it was blocked.
  - tw04 8y ago
    Right, so only chaos for 99%+ of the corporations in the US...
  - gruez 8y ago
    >Only chaos if you run Windows so breaking 80+% (being a bit conservative here) of people's computers is okay?
    - yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
      The relevant question is whether it's 80% of people who are using pihole; that number is probably still pretty high, but lower than the average population I expect.
  - larkeith 8y ago
    > Only chaos if you run Windows Or develop for Windows, or have a client who uses Windows, or neer to access any of the documentation on MSDN, or...
- mirimir 8y ago

echelon 8y ago

There appears to be so much confusion in this thread about whether or not this involves the open source uBlock Origin. uBlock Origin should seriously consider rebranding to distance itself from the commercial uBlock.

newscracker 8y ago

Anyone who wants a low overhead and trusted ad blocker should use uBlock Origin. The developer even refuses to take any donations (for some good reasons). For those who want a lot more control and a content blocker, uMatrix would help. Anything named as “Adblock” or “Adblock Plus” or similar is just a way for advertisers to decide what ads users see and don’t see, depending on how much they’re willing to pay and be held hostage to such extensions.

IntelMiner 8y ago
+1 to uBlock Origin Amusingly, trying to load the uBlock website was initially blocked by uBlock Origin!
- NextHendrix 8y ago
  Was also blocked for me which confused me until I noticed the different shape of the logo
- tmikaeld 8y ago
  Still blocked for me
  - detaro 8y ago
    I guess the parent meant "until I confirmed I want to look at the page". There's no reason for uBlock origin to remove the block.
skybrian 8y ago
The Adblock Plus ad policy seems to be somewhat different: https://adblockplus.org/acceptable-ads#criteria https://adblockplus.org/acceptable-ads#criteria I mean, sure, uBlock origin is most often recommended around here. But let's not be misleading about products we don't like.
- bhhaskin 8y ago
  I don't think that description is misleading at all. Adblock Plus does not block all ads and they control which ads are displayed and which aren't. If anything the name Adblock is miss leading.

propogandist 8y ago

a crowd-fundraising round to help uBlock's actual founder may help him fend off competition from AdBlock, using his own (uBlock) brand name

hk__2 8y ago

> If you’ve noticed recent updates to the product, that’s because uBlock has been acquired by the team responsible for AdBlock. We will be investing heavily into uBlock to help it deliver on the promise of being one of the best ad blockers available. Why would they invest "heavily into uBlock" instead of improving AdBlock? It doesn’t make sense to maintain two different ad blockers.

timbit42 8y ago
Because they are more interested in profits and more subscribers than blocking ads. Also, Adblock is more memory and CPU intensive, so perhaps they are looking to fix those issues in Adblock.

se7entime 8y ago

Found in: uBlock filters – Badware risks By uBlock Origin

mosselman 8y ago
I know what you mean because I have gotten te same screen, but if I hadn't I would have no idea what you mean by your comment. If it is your intention to be understood, try to add some context and full sentences.

squarefoot 8y ago

I think this Soylent News article summarizes the situation pretty well. https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/05/17/028245 https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/05/17/028245 tl;dr: the real one is Ublock Origin, get it here: https://github.com/gorhill/ublock https://github.com/gorhill/ublock From the same author I would also suggest uMatrix, sort of a NoScript on steroids which allows a much finer filtering literally ripping pages of a great deal of their junk more selectively, but be aware that it requires "training" (telling it this can be loaded, that cannot) which for some non technical people could be annoying.

nasredin 8y ago
Nope. Ublock & umatrix still don't block autoplaying videos. You should still use NoScript. IMHO if you push small cosmetic changes in the UI in every update, like Gorhill does, there's a problem. He has a poor attitide IMHO.
- makecheck 8y ago
  So you’re saying that someone investing tons of free time in software that greatly benefits countless people, and then gives it away for free, has problems because of a minor update you don’t like and have absolutely zero right to complain about?
- bpierre 8y ago
  Firefox does block auto playing videos and asks the user to explicitly allow it, in the same way access to the webcam / mic / location / notifications is managed. https://www.cnet.com/news/firefox-users-finally-get-option-to-block-autoplay-video-audio/ https://www.cnet.com/news/firefox-users-finally-get-option-t...

mattbit 8y ago

It seems like they are just trying to steal the name of uBlock. AdBlock CEO says they “do love the name” [0] and are "investing heavily" into the product, but the commits in the repo [1] are just cosmetic changes and rebranding. Oddly enough, the only active committer is anonymous. I wonder if this will cause legal troubles to the true uBlock Origin. [0]: https://twitter.com/judemaier/status/1020034358558670848 https://twitter.com/judemaier/status/1020034358558670848 [1]: https://github.com/uBlock-LLC/uBlock/commits/master https://github.com/uBlock-LLC/uBlock/commits/master

OnlyRepliesToBS 8y ago

A HAYSTACK of words to convey: WE SOLD OUT.

eric24234 8y ago

Was a user of "Adblock plus". They partnered with ad agencies and started to whitelist ads. That defeted the whole purpose and also it became clear the for profit organizations can not fight against the ad agencies as they have to partner if they want to make profit. Ublock origin is so much awesome.Its free software and also very easy to use and its actually much more than adblocker.