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Ads? On desktop? not in a million years with uBlock Origins. I forget how shitty internet is actually since several years now. Occasionally a new client doesn't

Ads? On desktop? not in a million years with uBlock Origins. I forget how shitty internet is actually since several years now. Occasionally a new client doesn't have and I'm reminded of it, but it takes all of those 30 seconds to install it and no ads baby.

tomp 6y ago
Actually I just started getting ads again, with uBlock Origin, both in YouTube and in newly-redesigned Facebook. I wrote a simple script that removes FB ads, but I need to "productivize" it and make sure it auto-loads...
- JaRail 6y ago
  When that happens, I usually just do a manual update on my filters. More often than not, someone has already updated it.
- petargyurov 6y ago
  Facebook's "sponsored" content is a disgusting mess of <span> elements with autogenerated IDs in order to bypass ad-blockers. How did you get around it?
  - username90 6y ago
    Can't you just remove all posts that aren't from people in your friend list?
    - gnicholas 6y ago
      This would also remove posts by FOF who tag your friends (e.g., your friend is tagged in a post by his wife, whom you're not friends with).
  - lazycouchpotato 6y ago
    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/facebook-tracking-removal/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/facebook-trac... and https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/facebook-container/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/facebook-cont... are essential add-ons to be able to tolerate browsing Facebook on a PC.
    - marc_abonce 6y ago
      I didn't know about FacebookTrackingRemoval. I always used facebook_adblock[1] instead, which seems to do almost the same and has worked very well for me most of the time. I'm also seeing other comments here trying to figure out other solutions. It's making me wonder how much duplicated effort is being spent on the same problem. [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/fb_ad_block/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/fb_ad_block/
  - lini 6y ago
    It's a cat and mouse game. Every couple of months FB tries a new version of the HTML layout with slightly changed elements and every time someone writes a CSS selector that manages to find the appropriate tag for the sponsored story and hide it. Currently with the new FB redesign it's: div[data-pagelet^="FeedUnit"]:has([role^=button]:has(> span:has-text(S)):not(:has-text(1)):not(:has-text(2)):not(:has-text(3)):not(:has-text(4)):not(:has-text(5)):not(:has-text(6)):not(:has-text(7)):not(:has-text(8)):not(span:has-text(9)):not(span:has-text(w)))
    - dawnerd 6y ago
      Similar tactic on Twitter as well. I'm not even doing it for ad blocking necessarily, just to hide features I don't want like "who to follow" or all those nonstop COVID updates. In case anyone interested: https://github.com/dawnerd/ublock-filters/blob/master/sites/twitter.txt https://github.com/dawnerd/ublock-filters/blob/master/sites/...
    - coryfklein 6y ago
      I find this so crazy! It says "Promoted" right there. I can use my browser's inspector to click on the element to select the div and then delete it. Is there no simple way to accomplish the same in a browser extension without bringing in some crazy AI solution? Just read the webpage as it is rendered to an actual human, identify the x/y coordinates of the element, pass that to Firefox/Chrome/Safari's element selector, and delete. Voila! I'm sure there's a very good reason why this exact solution just doesn't work, but I'd love to hear it explained, because it seems so simple to me. Then again I'm a backend guy, and I just don't even know frontend.
      - acmecorps 6y ago
        I think, the uBlock Origin context menu does that?
      - roryokane 6y ago
        > Just read the webpage as it is rendered to an actual human Humans read web pages using their vision. So what you’re proposing is to look at the final rendered image of text instead of the DOM tree. The only way to do that would be to perform OCR (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_character_recognition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_character_recognition) on a screenshot of the whole web page. This would be possible, but I think nobody’s tried because it feels overly complicated, and many OCR libraries can’t understand text 100% reliably, not even computer-rendered text. Also remember that the OCR library would have to run in JavaScript. Would it run fast enough to block the ad before the user sees it? Would it annoy the user by spinning up their computer’s fan? > identify the x/y coordinates of the element This wouldn’t be too too hard to implement using `document.elementsFromPoint(x, y)`. This part isn’t the problem.
  - gnud 6y ago
    I keep planning to write this script, but never get around to it. One of those messy autogenerated ID spans is "aria-labeledby" a span that clearly contains the text "sponsored". And it would be hard (legally) for Facebook to stop doing that.
  - lozaning 6y ago
    I have a plugin for chrome called FB Purity that removes all the embedded ads, and also strictly list the feed in chronological order.
  - sizzle 6y ago
    Do what I did, delete your Facebook...
  - InvaderFizz 6y ago
    Speaking of sponsored content. Both eBay and Amazon are unusable without uBO to remove sponsored listings that completely mess up my sorting and filtering.
  - tomp 6y ago
    In javascript, `span.innerText == "sponsored"` ... I was surprised it was so easy, but it probably won't work for long though.
- parliament32 6y ago
  Try updating your filters.
- Kelamir 6y ago
  Perhaps the issue is that UBlock Origin allows some ads. AdBlocker Ultimate, recommended by Firefox, faces that issue, removing all adds. See https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblocker-ultimate/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblocker-ult... EDIT: I don't think UBlock Origin has acceptable ads anymore :)
  - swinglock 6y ago
    Prove it.
    - Kelamir 6y ago
      I'll do my best, swinglock. I heard somewhere that UBlock Origin has acceptable ads, and based on that, the AdBlocker Ultimate had an appeal to me of removing them all. I went on to investigate on it, and couldn't find much on UBlock Origin having acceptable ads. Some shady UBlock Origin-like websites claimed that, but UBlock Origin itself blocked them. I'm wrong about UBlock Origin having acceptable ads, from what I gathered. Thank you for questioning my claims, swinglock.
      - dpifke 6y ago
        Authoritative reference for anyone else curious about this: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/blob/master/MANIFESTO.md https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/blob/master/MANIFESTO.md
      - warkdarrior 6y ago
        You are confusing Ad Block Plus (ABP) and uBlock Origin. ABP has acceptable ads, while uBlock Origin does not.
      - dsr_ 6y ago
        I think you had a fuzzy memory of adblock allowing "acceptable" ads and mis-associated it. Human brains are like that.
      - Smoosh 6y ago
rconti 6y ago
I've never routinely run an adblocker in, whatever, 25 years online. I've experimented with them here and there, and tend to find that the unintended consequences are as much of a hassle as the ads. I keep meaning to try a PiHole but I'm not sure I'll have much better luck.
- svdr 6y ago
  I never really used an adblocker as well, but now I'm using nextdns which does really good filtering at the dns level (not affiliated).
- nhooyr 6y ago
  What unintended consequences?
  - jessaustin 6y ago
    Sometimes checkout on storefront sites will rely on scripts served from domains that adblockers block. When this happens, it's easy enough to turn the adblocker off for a few minutes (or, conversely, to decide "nope I'm not shopping here").
  - kawsper 6y ago
    Adblockers broke EasyJets navigation on their website, I think they have since fixed it.
  - rconti 6y ago
    Weird formatting, things not working and you not remembering/understanding why, trying to keep settings in sync across browsers and platforms, and so on. IOW I've found it easier to tolerate ads and slow sites "functioning as intended" than the much-less-frequent but far-more-maddening broken functionality that takes me "longer than it should" to troublehsoot. I'm not sure I've used uBlock though, mostly ABP over the years.
- y-c-o-m-b 6y ago
  > unintended consequences That is a rare thing for me these days with uBlock Origin. I assume you're referring to broken websites when using ad blocking.
schwartzworld 6y ago
this technique also works for paywalls, which I don't think ublock can get around
- unnouinceput 6y ago
  And I like it that way actually. If I can't see your site with my adblocker I am not going to ever land it again there. I also have NoScript and what I do is something like this: Step 1 - open your site. Can't see it? I try to allow JS in NoScript Step 2 - Still can't see your site due to shitty various techniques? Then I re-enable NoScript and add it to blacklist to never land on it ever. Step 3 - You're not unique, your info is duplicated by several other dozens as well.
SimeVidas 6y ago
Do content creators get ad revenue if you block ads via that extension?
- lexicality 6y ago
  Unless you have youtube premium, no
- hanspeter 6y ago
  I hope this was a sarcastic comment and not a genuine question from an adblock user. I mean, I hope all adblock users are aware that if everyone did as they do, the content they enjoy would not exist.
  - simias 6y ago
    Or it would still exist, but would be monitized differently.
    - topicseed 6y ago
      Sure, let's tell private entities how to monetize their content that we enjoy.
      - simias 6y ago
        See, if instead of this sarcastic quip you had bothered to come up with an insightful comment I might have had a chance to understand what you're trying to say. Is it really all that unreasonable, as a consumer, to favor certain monetization schemes over others?
  - rakoo 6y ago
    I enjoy a lot of content that has no ads at all
    - Xenoamorphous 6y ago
      Then no adblocker needed!
rakoo 6y ago
uBlock Origin also works very well on mobile, but you have to use Firefox. Mobile Chrome doesn't allow any extensions and I think we know why.
- codegladiator 6y ago
  Because the APIs where too permissive and plugins would be a threat to privacy of the user because they could intercept everything.
  - oarsinsync 6y ago
    So instead of fixing the API to enable enduser privacy from third party plugins, the API was simply removed to remove enduser privacy from trackers.
    - codegladiator 6y ago
      Yeah I know, I should have added a /s to my comment.

tomp 6y ago

Actually I just started getting ads again, with uBlock Origin, both in YouTube and in newly-redesigned Facebook. I wrote a simple script that removes FB ads, but I need to "productivize" it and make sure it auto-loads...

JaRail 6y ago
When that happens, I usually just do a manual update on my filters. More often than not, someone has already updated it.
petargyurov 6y ago
Facebook's "sponsored" content is a disgusting mess of <span> elements with autogenerated IDs in order to bypass ad-blockers. How did you get around it?
- username90 6y ago
  Can't you just remove all posts that aren't from people in your friend list?
  - gnicholas 6y ago
    This would also remove posts by FOF who tag your friends (e.g., your friend is tagged in a post by his wife, whom you're not friends with).
- lazycouchpotato 6y ago
  https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/facebook-tracking-removal/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/facebook-trac... and https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/facebook-container/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/facebook-cont... are essential add-ons to be able to tolerate browsing Facebook on a PC.
  - marc_abonce 6y ago
    I didn't know about FacebookTrackingRemoval. I always used facebook_adblock[1] instead, which seems to do almost the same and has worked very well for me most of the time. I'm also seeing other comments here trying to figure out other solutions. It's making me wonder how much duplicated effort is being spent on the same problem. [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/fb_ad_block/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/fb_ad_block/
- lini 6y ago
  It's a cat and mouse game. Every couple of months FB tries a new version of the HTML layout with slightly changed elements and every time someone writes a CSS selector that manages to find the appropriate tag for the sponsored story and hide it. Currently with the new FB redesign it's: div[data-pagelet^="FeedUnit"]:has([role^=button]:has(> span:has-text(S)):not(:has-text(1)):not(:has-text(2)):not(:has-text(3)):not(:has-text(4)):not(:has-text(5)):not(:has-text(6)):not(:has-text(7)):not(:has-text(8)):not(span:has-text(9)):not(span:has-text(w)))
  - dawnerd 6y ago
    Similar tactic on Twitter as well. I'm not even doing it for ad blocking necessarily, just to hide features I don't want like "who to follow" or all those nonstop COVID updates. In case anyone interested: https://github.com/dawnerd/ublock-filters/blob/master/sites/twitter.txt https://github.com/dawnerd/ublock-filters/blob/master/sites/...
  - coryfklein 6y ago
    I find this so crazy! It says "Promoted" right there. I can use my browser's inspector to click on the element to select the div and then delete it. Is there no simple way to accomplish the same in a browser extension without bringing in some crazy AI solution? Just read the webpage as it is rendered to an actual human, identify the x/y coordinates of the element, pass that to Firefox/Chrome/Safari's element selector, and delete. Voila! I'm sure there's a very good reason why this exact solution just doesn't work, but I'd love to hear it explained, because it seems so simple to me. Then again I'm a backend guy, and I just don't even know frontend.
    - acmecorps 6y ago
      I think, the uBlock Origin context menu does that?
    - roryokane 6y ago
      > Just read the webpage as it is rendered to an actual human Humans read web pages using their vision. So what you’re proposing is to look at the final rendered image of text instead of the DOM tree. The only way to do that would be to perform OCR (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_character_recognition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_character_recognition) on a screenshot of the whole web page. This would be possible, but I think nobody’s tried because it feels overly complicated, and many OCR libraries can’t understand text 100% reliably, not even computer-rendered text. Also remember that the OCR library would have to run in JavaScript. Would it run fast enough to block the ad before the user sees it? Would it annoy the user by spinning up their computer’s fan? > identify the x/y coordinates of the element This wouldn’t be too too hard to implement using `document.elementsFromPoint(x, y)`. This part isn’t the problem.
- gnud 6y ago
  I keep planning to write this script, but never get around to it. One of those messy autogenerated ID spans is "aria-labeledby" a span that clearly contains the text "sponsored". And it would be hard (legally) for Facebook to stop doing that.
- lozaning 6y ago
  I have a plugin for chrome called FB Purity that removes all the embedded ads, and also strictly list the feed in chronological order.
- sizzle 6y ago
  Do what I did, delete your Facebook...
- InvaderFizz 6y ago
  Speaking of sponsored content. Both eBay and Amazon are unusable without uBO to remove sponsored listings that completely mess up my sorting and filtering.
- tomp 6y ago
  In javascript, `span.innerText == "sponsored"` ... I was surprised it was so easy, but it probably won't work for long though.
parliament32 6y ago
Try updating your filters.
Kelamir 6y ago
Perhaps the issue is that UBlock Origin allows some ads. AdBlocker Ultimate, recommended by Firefox, faces that issue, removing all adds. See https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblocker-ultimate/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblocker-ult... EDIT: I don't think UBlock Origin has acceptable ads anymore :)
- swinglock 6y ago
  Prove it.
  - Kelamir 6y ago
    I'll do my best, swinglock. I heard somewhere that UBlock Origin has acceptable ads, and based on that, the AdBlocker Ultimate had an appeal to me of removing them all. I went on to investigate on it, and couldn't find much on UBlock Origin having acceptable ads. Some shady UBlock Origin-like websites claimed that, but UBlock Origin itself blocked them. I'm wrong about UBlock Origin having acceptable ads, from what I gathered. Thank you for questioning my claims, swinglock.
    - dpifke 6y ago
      Authoritative reference for anyone else curious about this: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/blob/master/MANIFESTO.md https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/blob/master/MANIFESTO.md
    - warkdarrior 6y ago
      You are confusing Ad Block Plus (ABP) and uBlock Origin. ABP has acceptable ads, while uBlock Origin does not.
    - dsr_ 6y ago
      I think you had a fuzzy memory of adblock allowing "acceptable" ads and mis-associated it. Human brains are like that.
    - Smoosh 6y ago

rconti 6y ago

I've never routinely run an adblocker in, whatever, 25 years online. I've experimented with them here and there, and tend to find that the unintended consequences are as much of a hassle as the ads. I keep meaning to try a PiHole but I'm not sure I'll have much better luck.

svdr 6y ago
I never really used an adblocker as well, but now I'm using nextdns which does really good filtering at the dns level (not affiliated).
nhooyr 6y ago
What unintended consequences?
- jessaustin 6y ago
  Sometimes checkout on storefront sites will rely on scripts served from domains that adblockers block. When this happens, it's easy enough to turn the adblocker off for a few minutes (or, conversely, to decide "nope I'm not shopping here").
- kawsper 6y ago
  Adblockers broke EasyJets navigation on their website, I think they have since fixed it.
- rconti 6y ago
  Weird formatting, things not working and you not remembering/understanding why, trying to keep settings in sync across browsers and platforms, and so on. IOW I've found it easier to tolerate ads and slow sites "functioning as intended" than the much-less-frequent but far-more-maddening broken functionality that takes me "longer than it should" to troublehsoot. I'm not sure I've used uBlock though, mostly ABP over the years.
y-c-o-m-b 6y ago
> unintended consequences That is a rare thing for me these days with uBlock Origin. I assume you're referring to broken websites when using ad blocking.

schwartzworld 6y ago

this technique also works for paywalls, which I don't think ublock can get around

unnouinceput 6y ago
And I like it that way actually. If I can't see your site with my adblocker I am not going to ever land it again there. I also have NoScript and what I do is something like this: Step 1 - open your site. Can't see it? I try to allow JS in NoScript Step 2 - Still can't see your site due to shitty various techniques? Then I re-enable NoScript and add it to blacklist to never land on it ever. Step 3 - You're not unique, your info is duplicated by several other dozens as well.

SimeVidas 6y ago

Do content creators get ad revenue if you block ads via that extension?

lexicality 6y ago
Unless you have youtube premium, no
hanspeter 6y ago
I hope this was a sarcastic comment and not a genuine question from an adblock user. I mean, I hope all adblock users are aware that if everyone did as they do, the content they enjoy would not exist.
- simias 6y ago
  Or it would still exist, but would be monitized differently.
  - topicseed 6y ago
    Sure, let's tell private entities how to monetize their content that we enjoy.
    - simias 6y ago
      See, if instead of this sarcastic quip you had bothered to come up with an insightful comment I might have had a chance to understand what you're trying to say. Is it really all that unreasonable, as a consumer, to favor certain monetization schemes over others?
- rakoo 6y ago
  I enjoy a lot of content that has no ads at all
  - Xenoamorphous 6y ago
    Then no adblocker needed!

rakoo 6y ago

uBlock Origin also works very well on mobile, but you have to use Firefox. Mobile Chrome doesn't allow any extensions and I think we know why.

codegladiator 6y ago
Because the APIs where too permissive and plugins would be a threat to privacy of the user because they could intercept everything.
- oarsinsync 6y ago
  So instead of fixing the API to enable enduser privacy from third party plugins, the API was simply removed to remove enduser privacy from trackers.
  - codegladiator 6y ago
    Yeah I know, I should have added a /s to my comment.