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This is good but do not use Adblock Plus. Use µBlock. Adblock Plus let's through some 'kosher' ads. If that's acceptable to you, all good. If you want no ads wh

This is good but do not use Adblock Plus. Use µBlock. Adblock Plus let's through some 'kosher' ads. If that's acceptable to you, all good. If you want no ads whatsoever, use µBlock. It works out of the box and blocks everything. Uses even less resources that any other alternative. Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-origin/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublock-origin/cjpa... Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/En-us/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/ https://addons.mozilla.org/En-us/firefox/addon/ublock-origin...

redstripe 11y ago
Under "filter preferences" there is an option for "Allow some non-intrusive markerting". Is that what you're talking about?
- nerdy 11y ago
  I've unchecked this option since I used AdBlock Plus (years ago, I'm sure) and I've never seen an ad. The closest thing I've seen is "please disable your adblocker" banners.
  - bsharitt 11y ago
    And then I used block element on those.
shmerl 11y ago
You can disable that. The only questionable part is who decides what ads should be allowed when that setting is on. Here I agree, if AdBlock developers are paid for whitelisting, such practice is very questionable. Are they?
- sergiotapia 11y ago
  What do you think? WINK WINK.
- voltagex_ 11y ago
  https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads#criteria https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads#criteria and https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads-agreements https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads-agreements
  - shmerl 11y ago
    They are indeed being paid. But they claim they provide some review process. It's still looks quite questionable in general.
- nugget 11y ago
  Yes, Adblock Plus' whitelist has been compared many times to a mafia style extortion scheme. Companies pay to let their ads through. By using ABP over other copies of the same open source code (or competitors like uBlock), you are supporting this business model.
- abpthrowaway 11y ago
  They are. Source: My employer (a major site with Alexa rank <100) contacted ABP asking to have our text-only, clearly-delimited sponsored search results whitelisted. They told us that it wouldn't happen unless we signed an NDA, paid them a share of the revenue difference, and installed a third-party script on our site to allow them to track our users. (We just laughed at them and changed our markup to work around the block.)
  - fwn 11y ago
    I love the NDA part. Looks very transparent and opensourcy.. I wonder if there would be interest in a real community driven whitelist. One without money involved or a dominant company applying it. edit: This might work under the premises that there is (1) such a tool/list itself (2) a maintaining community and (3) a set of adblockers to support the list. (1) is pretty simple. It's a list of ad-placements followed by a set of exclusion filters. This one needs to be transparently editable and commentable (both the ad-placement and the filter list edits) (2) is a bet, I admit. I could imagine that if there is a serious interest in the allowance of unintrusive ads than this would be not a problem if enough reach is provided. (3) is again an easy one. There are only so many adblockers out there. One key differentiator to ABP is that they don't allow ads on default. If that stays the same and the exception list is treated as an opt-in addition, I can only imagine benefits for those blockers. The only losing party is ABP since their overall impact might be reduced due to the lost of their monopoly. Since lists need to be transparent, their list could be used to start off and improve further maintainance.
    - gorhill 11y ago
      > so many adblockers out there [...] key differentiator to ABP is that they don't allow ads on default Adguard has "acceptable ads" enabled by default.
  - nothrabannosir 11y ago
    That's insane! Do you have the e-mail they sent? I'd like to show it to some people.
  - 11y ago
ytdht 11y ago
I tried uBlock origin and I didn't find any advantages over adblock plus besides not having to disable an option to block most ads... but either way, noscript is still necessary
- nindalf 11y ago
  I have a question about NoScript. I run Ghostery which blocks all tracking and analytics js files, preventing most of the tracking I'd like to avoid. What does NoScript offer here? Seems like you'd want to block analytics even if you're browsing a "trusted" site.
  - kevin_thibedeau 11y ago
    First of all ghostery is far more beholden to advertisers than ABP. On that basis alone they can't be trusted. It also only screens for known vulnerabilities which leaves you open to js zero days that noscript would have prevented if you are aggressive about what you permit to run.
    - seanp2k2 11y ago
      No disagreement on Ghostery; that got uninstalled real fast when I figured out what they were really up to. While I agree that NoScript helps, it doesn't prevent everything either: https://thehackerblog.com/the-noscript-misnomer-why-should-i-trust-vjs-zendcdn-net/ https://thehackerblog.com/the-noscript-misnomer-why-should-i... I used to be a big RequestPolicy believer, but single-page apps (which feels like saying "horseless carriages" in mid-2015) make it a lot of work. https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix/wiki/Changes-from-HTTP-Switchboard https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix/wiki/Changes-from-HTTP-Sw... is the best thing I've found if you're into granular control over sites. uBlock also has an ~"I'm an advanced user" option which will give you a little more blunt but still useful control over cross-site requests.
      - coldpie 11y ago
        > While I agree that NoScript helps, it doesn't prevent everything either: https://thehackerblog.com/the-noscript-misnomer-why-should-i.. https://thehackerblog.com/the-noscript-misnomer-why-should-i.... This is just a default whitelist that's trivial to remove. Yes, it's dumb, but it doesn't completely compromise NoScript if you're aware of the whitelist.
anti-shill 11y ago
ublock does not work very well. ...adblock and adblock plus work, but I cannot find anything else that works well...
- cvwright 11y ago
  Can you be more specific? What does ublock do poorly? I find it works well for me with a minimum of fuss. I even got it to block those awful "Powered by Outbrain" clickbait links that have been showing up on news sites lately.
  - thomnottom 11y ago
    It blocks those? Thanks, you've sold me. I find them incredibly annoying because sometimes it looks like an interesting list on the site I'm currently visiting and then realize it's taking me through 3 other portals.
  - smackfu 11y ago
    Last time I tried it, it seemed to be filtering out too much javascript. Like I would occasionally click on buttons on legit sites and they would do nothing.
broodbucket 11y ago
If anyone prefers Adblock Plus over µBlock but wants to get rid of the 'kosher' ads as you say, Adblock Edge is a fork that does just that.
- antsar 11y ago
  > This addon has been discontinued Source: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-edge/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-edge/
  - broodbucket 11y ago
    Oh. Well, their official endorsement of uBlock is enough for me to switch. ABE has served me well over the past couple of years, though.
    - swinglock 11y ago
      ABE has been great and even after their controversial whitelist was added it was always very simple to disable. But ABE never innovated or focused on performance and so now uBlock (Origin) is all you should consider running.
      - pcvarmint 11y ago
        You mean AdBlock Plus' controversial whitelist. AdBlock Edge was a fork to precisely avoid this whitelist.
        swinglock 11y ago
        Correct, I had them mixed up.
ljk 11y ago
is there a difference between uBlock and uBlock origin? Everyone has different opinions on which ad blocker is the best one and i'm pretty confused..
- __david__ 11y ago
  First there was uBlock. Then the maintainer got tired of it and passed it on to someone else. That next maintainer made some changes in the first couple weeks that made the original guy not happy about the direction he was taking it. So the original guy tried to take it back, but ended up forking it and calling it uBlock Origin. That's my best recollection, I might have some details wrong. I believe Origin is the favored one right now.
  - yAnonymous 11y ago
    And the first thing the guy who took over the original uBlock did was ask for donations, for code that was mostly written by someone else. Better use uBlock Origin, which is developed by the original uBlock author. https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock
    - cpeterso 11y ago
      The maintainer of uBlock Origin needs to do a much better job of explaining the difference between uBlock and uBlock Origin. The extensions' descriptions on addons.mozilla.org are word-for-word identical: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin
      - jd3 11y ago
        he already did... https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-vs.-uBlock-Origin%3A-Facts https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-vs.-uBlock-Ori...
slacka 11y ago
Yes, I like to support sites like reddit that vet their ads to eliminate the obnoxious ones. In an ideal world, I'd like the speed/memory usage of µBlock with the ability to enable the 'kosher' ads. When 41 goes to stable I'll re-enable ABP.
- fwn 11y ago
  This is rather easy. The ability to enable kosher ads is implemented through an additional filter list you can add in any blocker: https://easylist-downloads.adblockplus.org/exceptionrules.txt
- bitJericho 11y ago
  All ads are obnoxious. Abp charges for the privilege of allowing ads through.
  - raverbashing 11y ago
    Sure, there's no difference between a small image and a full-screen flash animation that needs to be clicked through to proceed
    - bitJericho 11y ago
      They both work to make me change my buying decisions. Yes there is no difference.
      - raverbashing 11y ago
        Sure, they use the same amount of cpu and bandwidth, they have the same effect when seen from peripheral vision (or even audio), and also have the same effect on the usability of the page, sure Please keep denying the bleeding obvious (oh and they clearly have different effects on buying decisions)
        Roodgorf 11y ago
        I will fight anyone who tries to tell me that a auto-playing video with sound enabled is not just as annoying as a small static image on the side of a page. Even when I'm somewhere with a limited internet connection. [sarcasm]
SnaKeZ 11y ago
µBlock blocks Google Analytics, what about Adblock Plus?
- mp3geek 11y ago
  The extension doesnt block google analytics, the lists do.
- keeperofdakeys 11y ago
  uBlock and Adblock Plus are built around filter lists of urls (in fact, both use essentially the same lists). So if something is blocked in one but not the other, it's probably a difference in the filter list subscriptions. This is easily configurable in both.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
e40 11y ago
This is good but do not use Adblock Plus. Use µBlock. Adblock Plus let's through some 'kosher' ads. I've heard this argument many times. I've used ABP for years and I don't remember ever seeing an ad (except on reddit, where I whitelist them). Either the ads are so low key that I didn't see them, or they are very rare. Either way, I'm fine with it.
- kasabali 11y ago
  That's because there have been always a checkbox to disable those 'kosher' and you've probably disabled them many years ago. That doesn't stop other people from spreading FUD, though.
jasonlotito 11y ago
This is good but do not use µBlock. Use µBlock Origin. µBlock's developer lets through some changes the creator of µBlock didn't like. If that's acceptable to you, all good. If you like the original µBlock, use µBlock Origin.
davidgerard 11y ago
ABP is very good about this these days, and takes you straight to the option to switch that off if you want it (last time I installed it afresh).
kuschku 11y ago
Also remember that Google paid 30 million € to get some of their ads whitelisted — obviously not a fair selection of "kosher" ads.
- on_and_off 11y ago
  Sigh. Adblock Plus / µBlock are almost as broken as not using them. I only want to block obnoxious ads. First and foremost, popunder (these should not even exist, I don't see any legitimate use for them) and also popups. Let's add the very aggressive ones (blinking content). I don't want to block the ads on my favorite blogs and I really don't like the fact that I have to create a custom rule to do so.
  - kuschku 11y ago
    Funnily, the guy who owns AdBlock Plus also worked in the department of United Internet which invented Binlayer back in the day. The issue I see mostly is that they actually sell access to the "acceptable ads" list. If it was just actually acceptable ads, it would have been okay, but mafia-like methods? that’s just morally inacceptable.
partiallypro 11y ago
You can disable the "kosher" ads, there's a checkbox in ABP's settings. Pretty simple. Just uncheck "Allow some non-intrusive advertising" http://imgur.com/BWzIEyo http://imgur.com/BWzIEyo

redstripe 11y ago

Under "filter preferences" there is an option for "Allow some non-intrusive markerting". Is that what you're talking about?

nerdy 11y ago
I've unchecked this option since I used AdBlock Plus (years ago, I'm sure) and I've never seen an ad. The closest thing I've seen is "please disable your adblocker" banners.
- bsharitt 11y ago
  And then I used block element on those.

shmerl 11y ago

You can disable that. The only questionable part is who decides what ads should be allowed when that setting is on. Here I agree, if AdBlock developers are paid for whitelisting, such practice is very questionable. Are they?

sergiotapia 11y ago
What do you think? WINK WINK.
voltagex_ 11y ago
https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads#criteria https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads#criteria and https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads-agreements https://adblockplus.org/en/acceptable-ads-agreements
- shmerl 11y ago
  They are indeed being paid. But they claim they provide some review process. It's still looks quite questionable in general.
nugget 11y ago
Yes, Adblock Plus' whitelist has been compared many times to a mafia style extortion scheme. Companies pay to let their ads through. By using ABP over other copies of the same open source code (or competitors like uBlock), you are supporting this business model.
abpthrowaway 11y ago
They are. Source: My employer (a major site with Alexa rank <100) contacted ABP asking to have our text-only, clearly-delimited sponsored search results whitelisted. They told us that it wouldn't happen unless we signed an NDA, paid them a share of the revenue difference, and installed a third-party script on our site to allow them to track our users. (We just laughed at them and changed our markup to work around the block.)
- fwn 11y ago
  I love the NDA part. Looks very transparent and opensourcy.. I wonder if there would be interest in a real community driven whitelist. One without money involved or a dominant company applying it. edit: This might work under the premises that there is (1) such a tool/list itself (2) a maintaining community and (3) a set of adblockers to support the list. (1) is pretty simple. It's a list of ad-placements followed by a set of exclusion filters. This one needs to be transparently editable and commentable (both the ad-placement and the filter list edits) (2) is a bet, I admit. I could imagine that if there is a serious interest in the allowance of unintrusive ads than this would be not a problem if enough reach is provided. (3) is again an easy one. There are only so many adblockers out there. One key differentiator to ABP is that they don't allow ads on default. If that stays the same and the exception list is treated as an opt-in addition, I can only imagine benefits for those blockers. The only losing party is ABP since their overall impact might be reduced due to the lost of their monopoly. Since lists need to be transparent, their list could be used to start off and improve further maintainance.
  - gorhill 11y ago
    > so many adblockers out there [...] key differentiator to ABP is that they don't allow ads on default Adguard has "acceptable ads" enabled by default.
- nothrabannosir 11y ago
  That's insane! Do you have the e-mail they sent? I'd like to show it to some people.
- 11y ago

ytdht 11y ago

I tried uBlock origin and I didn't find any advantages over adblock plus besides not having to disable an option to block most ads... but either way, noscript is still necessary

nindalf 11y ago
I have a question about NoScript. I run Ghostery which blocks all tracking and analytics js files, preventing most of the tracking I'd like to avoid. What does NoScript offer here? Seems like you'd want to block analytics even if you're browsing a "trusted" site.
- kevin_thibedeau 11y ago
  First of all ghostery is far more beholden to advertisers than ABP. On that basis alone they can't be trusted. It also only screens for known vulnerabilities which leaves you open to js zero days that noscript would have prevented if you are aggressive about what you permit to run.
  - seanp2k2 11y ago
    No disagreement on Ghostery; that got uninstalled real fast when I figured out what they were really up to. While I agree that NoScript helps, it doesn't prevent everything either: https://thehackerblog.com/the-noscript-misnomer-why-should-i-trust-vjs-zendcdn-net/ https://thehackerblog.com/the-noscript-misnomer-why-should-i... I used to be a big RequestPolicy believer, but single-page apps (which feels like saying "horseless carriages" in mid-2015) make it a lot of work. https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix/wiki/Changes-from-HTTP-Switchboard https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix/wiki/Changes-from-HTTP-Sw... is the best thing I've found if you're into granular control over sites. uBlock also has an ~"I'm an advanced user" option which will give you a little more blunt but still useful control over cross-site requests.
    - coldpie 11y ago
      > While I agree that NoScript helps, it doesn't prevent everything either: https://thehackerblog.com/the-noscript-misnomer-why-should-i.. https://thehackerblog.com/the-noscript-misnomer-why-should-i.... This is just a default whitelist that's trivial to remove. Yes, it's dumb, but it doesn't completely compromise NoScript if you're aware of the whitelist.

anti-shill 11y ago

ublock does not work very well. ...adblock and adblock plus work, but I cannot find anything else that works well...

cvwright 11y ago
Can you be more specific? What does ublock do poorly? I find it works well for me with a minimum of fuss. I even got it to block those awful "Powered by Outbrain" clickbait links that have been showing up on news sites lately.
- thomnottom 11y ago
  It blocks those? Thanks, you've sold me. I find them incredibly annoying because sometimes it looks like an interesting list on the site I'm currently visiting and then realize it's taking me through 3 other portals.
- smackfu 11y ago
  Last time I tried it, it seemed to be filtering out too much javascript. Like I would occasionally click on buttons on legit sites and they would do nothing.

broodbucket 11y ago

If anyone prefers Adblock Plus over µBlock but wants to get rid of the 'kosher' ads as you say, Adblock Edge is a fork that does just that.

antsar 11y ago
> This addon has been discontinued Source: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-edge/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-edge/
- broodbucket 11y ago
  Oh. Well, their official endorsement of uBlock is enough for me to switch. ABE has served me well over the past couple of years, though.
  - swinglock 11y ago
    ABE has been great and even after their controversial whitelist was added it was always very simple to disable. But ABE never innovated or focused on performance and so now uBlock (Origin) is all you should consider running.
    - pcvarmint 11y ago
      You mean AdBlock Plus' controversial whitelist. AdBlock Edge was a fork to precisely avoid this whitelist.
      - swinglock 11y ago
        Correct, I had them mixed up.

ljk 11y ago

is there a difference between uBlock and uBlock origin? Everyone has different opinions on which ad blocker is the best one and i'm pretty confused..

__david__ 11y ago
First there was uBlock. Then the maintainer got tired of it and passed it on to someone else. That next maintainer made some changes in the first couple weeks that made the original guy not happy about the direction he was taking it. So the original guy tried to take it back, but ended up forking it and calling it uBlock Origin. That's my best recollection, I might have some details wrong. I believe Origin is the favored one right now.
- yAnonymous 11y ago
  And the first thing the guy who took over the original uBlock did was ask for donations, for code that was mostly written by someone else. Better use uBlock Origin, which is developed by the original uBlock author. https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock
  - cpeterso 11y ago
    The maintainer of uBlock Origin needs to do a much better job of explaining the difference between uBlock and uBlock Origin. The extensions' descriptions on addons.mozilla.org are word-for-word identical: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin
    - jd3 11y ago
      he already did... https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-vs.-uBlock-Origin%3A-Facts https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-vs.-uBlock-Ori...

slacka 11y ago

Yes, I like to support sites like reddit that vet their ads to eliminate the obnoxious ones. In an ideal world, I'd like the speed/memory usage of µBlock with the ability to enable the 'kosher' ads. When 41 goes to stable I'll re-enable ABP.

fwn 11y ago
This is rather easy. The ability to enable kosher ads is implemented through an additional filter list you can add in any blocker: https://easylist-downloads.adblockplus.org/exceptionrules.txt
bitJericho 11y ago
All ads are obnoxious. Abp charges for the privilege of allowing ads through.
- raverbashing 11y ago
  Sure, there's no difference between a small image and a full-screen flash animation that needs to be clicked through to proceed
  - bitJericho 11y ago
    They both work to make me change my buying decisions. Yes there is no difference.
    - raverbashing 11y ago
      Sure, they use the same amount of cpu and bandwidth, they have the same effect when seen from peripheral vision (or even audio), and also have the same effect on the usability of the page, sure Please keep denying the bleeding obvious (oh and they clearly have different effects on buying decisions)
      - Roodgorf 11y ago
        I will fight anyone who tries to tell me that a auto-playing video with sound enabled is not just as annoying as a small static image on the side of a page. Even when I'm somewhere with a limited internet connection. [sarcasm]

SnaKeZ 11y ago

µBlock blocks Google Analytics, what about Adblock Plus?

mp3geek 11y ago
The extension doesnt block google analytics, the lists do.
keeperofdakeys 11y ago
uBlock and Adblock Plus are built around filter lists of urls (in fact, both use essentially the same lists). So if something is blocked in one but not the other, it's probably a difference in the filter list subscriptions. This is easily configurable in both.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

e40 11y ago

This is good but do not use Adblock Plus. Use µBlock. Adblock Plus let's through some 'kosher' ads. I've heard this argument many times. I've used ABP for years and I don't remember ever seeing an ad (except on reddit, where I whitelist them). Either the ads are so low key that I didn't see them, or they are very rare. Either way, I'm fine with it.

kasabali 11y ago
That's because there have been always a checkbox to disable those 'kosher' and you've probably disabled them many years ago. That doesn't stop other people from spreading FUD, though.

jasonlotito 11y ago

This is good but do not use µBlock. Use µBlock Origin. µBlock's developer lets through some changes the creator of µBlock didn't like. If that's acceptable to you, all good. If you like the original µBlock, use µBlock Origin.

davidgerard 11y ago

ABP is very good about this these days, and takes you straight to the option to switch that off if you want it (last time I installed it afresh).

kuschku 11y ago

Also remember that Google paid 30 million € to get some of their ads whitelisted — obviously not a fair selection of "kosher" ads.

on_and_off 11y ago
Sigh. Adblock Plus / µBlock are almost as broken as not using them. I only want to block obnoxious ads. First and foremost, popunder (these should not even exist, I don't see any legitimate use for them) and also popups. Let's add the very aggressive ones (blinking content). I don't want to block the ads on my favorite blogs and I really don't like the fact that I have to create a custom rule to do so.
- kuschku 11y ago
  Funnily, the guy who owns AdBlock Plus also worked in the department of United Internet which invented Binlayer back in the day. The issue I see mostly is that they actually sell access to the "acceptable ads" list. If it was just actually acceptable ads, it would have been okay, but mafia-like methods? that’s just morally inacceptable.

partiallypro 11y ago

You can disable the "kosher" ads, there's a checkbox in ABP's settings. Pretty simple. Just uncheck "Allow some non-intrusive advertising" http://imgur.com/BWzIEyo http://imgur.com/BWzIEyo