4 ms·

I had a pi-hole set up for quite a little while, but my partner complained that they could no longer click on google shopping links. It boggled my mind that any

I had a pi-hole set up for quite a little while, but my partner complained that they could no longer click on google shopping links. It boggled my mind that anyone actually clicked on these, but now I have to find a way to whitelist their devices.

impish9208 4y ago
You can create a group of devices for which the DNS filtering doesn’t apply to.
thrdbndndn 4y ago
I don't use Google shoppings, but I click Amazon shopping ads on some indie/personal sites all the time. For example, one of the them is a music database website. Its ad shows the links to buy the CDs (it's in Japan, FWIW). I find it very continent; I often just go Amazon to check info even if I don't want to buy.
muppetman 4y ago
Look at the oisd blocklist. It's very comprehensive (I removed all other Blocklist) and it ensures that it doesn't break any users experiences.
LilBytes 4y ago
As others have stated I worked around it by setting up a wifi connection with different DNS servers and adding '- No Adblock' to the SSID. Not all routers have this functionality and if it doesn't you should be able to flash Tomato or similar, or use PfSense. Depending how home baked you want to go.
westhom 4y ago
Exact same reason I stopped using pi-hole. It bugged out Google shopping and my partner complained. And the whitelisting / access control is annoying UX imo so I went back to normal DNS. Might return to it eventually but not enable it for every dhcp client. Edit: and her iPhone changes its MAC address randomly so the access control was tricky to maintain.
- monotux 4y ago
  The Mac randomization can easily be disabled per Wi-Fi, so it’s only disabled at home. Not sure it can be done on android.
  - ignoramous 4y ago
    Can be disabled on Android per wifi, too.
- jrnichols 4y ago
  a lot of these issues are why we joke about the WAF .. the "Wife Acceptance Factor." it's also telling me that a lot of tech products are not tested with women customers at all.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
addandsubtract 4y ago
Using Google Shopping is a cheat code to getting cheaper prices. Companies will mark their products down way more than any other coupon that can be found online, just to appear at the top of the results. It's amazing at saving money, if you already know what you want to buy.
tecoholic 4y ago
This exact same thing happened to me. Ended up whitelisting the Google Ad domains as a compromise. Still hurts to think.
- bazmattaz 4y ago
  These days you can create a custom group for users that have their own whitelist and blacklist. Put her in that group and whitelist anything you want
  - tecoholic 4y ago
    Thanks for the tip.
winstonprivacy 4y ago
We implemented a web extension specifically to allow this. It basically worked by giving the user a warning that they would be tracked if they proceeded, then gave them a button to proceed anyway. This was a top feature request for our first year of business, driven mostly by our users' wives. It was actually a pretty tricky bit of technology to build, as it had to work not only for the original link, but all of the associated trackers which were triggered by the event (otherwise the ad might not load).
pwpw 4y ago
I had a similar experience but have found this NextDNS config passes the “girlfriend test”: https://github.com/yokoffing/NextDNS-Config https://github.com/yokoffing/NextDNS-Config
bazmattaz 4y ago
Ha this is funny. My partner was the exact same. The developers made a great release awhile back that allowed you to make custom groups of users with their own whitelists. I created a group that whitelisted all google shopping links and then put her in it. Works flawlessly

impish9208 4y ago

You can create a group of devices for which the DNS filtering doesn’t apply to.

thrdbndndn 4y ago

I don't use Google shoppings, but I click Amazon shopping ads on some indie/personal sites all the time. For example, one of the them is a music database website. Its ad shows the links to buy the CDs (it's in Japan, FWIW). I find it very continent; I often just go Amazon to check info even if I don't want to buy.

muppetman 4y ago

Look at the oisd blocklist. It's very comprehensive (I removed all other Blocklist) and it ensures that it doesn't break any users experiences.

LilBytes 4y ago

As others have stated I worked around it by setting up a wifi connection with different DNS servers and adding '- No Adblock' to the SSID. Not all routers have this functionality and if it doesn't you should be able to flash Tomato or similar, or use PfSense. Depending how home baked you want to go.

westhom 4y ago

Exact same reason I stopped using pi-hole. It bugged out Google shopping and my partner complained. And the whitelisting / access control is annoying UX imo so I went back to normal DNS. Might return to it eventually but not enable it for every dhcp client. Edit: and her iPhone changes its MAC address randomly so the access control was tricky to maintain.

monotux 4y ago
The Mac randomization can easily be disabled per Wi-Fi, so it’s only disabled at home. Not sure it can be done on android.
- ignoramous 4y ago
  Can be disabled on Android per wifi, too.
jrnichols 4y ago
a lot of these issues are why we joke about the WAF .. the "Wife Acceptance Factor." it's also telling me that a lot of tech products are not tested with women customers at all.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

addandsubtract 4y ago

Using Google Shopping is a cheat code to getting cheaper prices. Companies will mark their products down way more than any other coupon that can be found online, just to appear at the top of the results. It's amazing at saving money, if you already know what you want to buy.

tecoholic 4y ago

This exact same thing happened to me. Ended up whitelisting the Google Ad domains as a compromise. Still hurts to think.

bazmattaz 4y ago
These days you can create a custom group for users that have their own whitelist and blacklist. Put her in that group and whitelist anything you want
- tecoholic 4y ago
  Thanks for the tip.

winstonprivacy 4y ago

We implemented a web extension specifically to allow this. It basically worked by giving the user a warning that they would be tracked if they proceeded, then gave them a button to proceed anyway. This was a top feature request for our first year of business, driven mostly by our users' wives. It was actually a pretty tricky bit of technology to build, as it had to work not only for the original link, but all of the associated trackers which were triggered by the event (otherwise the ad might not load).

pwpw 4y ago

I had a similar experience but have found this NextDNS config passes the “girlfriend test”: https://github.com/yokoffing/NextDNS-Config https://github.com/yokoffing/NextDNS-Config

bazmattaz 4y ago

Ha this is funny. My partner was the exact same. The developers made a great release awhile back that allowed you to make custom groups of users with their own whitelists. I created a group that whitelisted all google shopping links and then put her in it. Works flawlessly