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My uBlock Origin filters to remove distractions

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Re: My uBlock Origin filters to remove distractions

#151

Post by ehPReth »

flir wrote: post #74
perihelions wrote: post #41

Tangentially: after you've blocked a very large number of ads and sidebars, one useful enhancement is to expand whatever text elements remain, to regain use of all that now-empty whitespace. Something like so: :xpath(//main/div):style(min-width: 80% !important) (I've been looking at going a step further for some sites, by annotating a "column-count:" [0] rule and making the screen look like a newspaper. (Narrow colum…

Are you at the point where you should be pouring this content into RSS, and styling it as columns in a reader? (I really like the column idea, and I'm working back towards RSS, with a bunch of smart filters, being my primary way of interacting with anything I visit regularly. I never should have given it up).

The only reliable way I've found (so far) to shuttle Facebook Pages into something easily to consume (RSS) is unfortunately a paid service... even paid IFTT doesn't support a page posts -> fire webhook/email/etc sadly. Unfortunate, since some local government stuff or otherwise noteworthy stuff is... only available on Facebook. Sometimes it's available on 'X'/Twitter but often not as detailed, or it links to Facebook for more details.

Re: My uBlock Origin filters to remove distractions

#152

Post by ehPReth »

PcChip wrote: post #90
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might be scope for upstream projects to add a new group like "uBlock Focus" where blocks are to focus main content? Before IT took away all plugins (!) I used uBlock this way, hiding sidebars and leads that weren't conducive to work (eg interesting stuff).

>Before IT took away all plugins weird decision, I push plugins to lots of my customers (uBlock Origin)

indeed, one could argue a reputable adblocker is paramount to endpoint/enduser security these days

Re: My uBlock Origin filters to remove distractions

#153

Post by dpkirchner »

eatsyourtacos wrote: post #96
robbyking wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There really are two different version of the internet, and which one you use depends on how how well your ad blockers are configured. I was using my mom's laptop over the holidays, and it took me a minute to realize why every site I visited looked so _different_. What I quickly realised is almost every site I visited was wallpapered in ads: banners between every paragraph, sidebars full of ads, and background images…

What are people using on their phones these days for ad blocking? (iphone specifically). I absolutely cannot stand any mobile website ever- it's insanity.

I use Wipr, not so much to block ads but to reduce the chances page content will shift around while loading (to accommodate ad sizes that designers don't bother to plan for). It works pretty well, however it only affects Safari.

Re: My uBlock Origin filters to remove distractions

#155

Post by matheusmoreira »

lopis wrote: post #94
robbyking wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There really are two different version of the internet, and which one you use depends on how how well your ad blockers are configured. I was using my mom's laptop over the holidays, and it took me a minute to realize why every site I visited looked so _different_. What I quickly realised is almost every site I visited was wallpapered in ads: banners between every paragraph, sidebars full of ads, and background images…

The ads covering the whole background of some websites websites are the most outrageous thing I had the pleasure to discover recently after so much time of ad blocking. They are absolutely aggressive to your very soul.

These people would put ads inside your eyelids if they could. Inside your dreams while you sleep. They have exactly zero limits.

Re: My uBlock Origin filters to remove distractions

#156

Post by matheusmoreira »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #58
notsylver wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These aren't just annoyances, they are core features of the sites.

Might be scope for upstream projects to add a new group like "uBlock Focus" where blocks are to focus main content? Before IT took away all plugins (!) I used uBlock this way, hiding sidebars and leads that weren't conducive to work (eg interesting stuff).

> Before IT took away all plugins

They really like dealing with users and their malware infections I guess. It's the only possible explanation given that uBlock Origin is probably the most effective anti-malware software in existence.

Re: My uBlock Origin filters to remove distractions

#158

Post by matheusmoreira »

robbyking wrote: post #86
gzer0 wrote: post #82

If you go to Options > Filter Lists > Annoyances and check mark the following items: "AdGuard – Annoyances" "EasyList – Annoyances" "uBlock filters – Annoyances" You will get rid of 99.9% of website annoyances without affecting any main functionality of websites. I've been doing this on every fresh install of Chrome for years. Works wonders.

There really are two different version of the internet, and which one you use depends on how how well your ad blockers are configured. I was using my mom's laptop over the holidays, and it took me a minute to realize why every site I visited looked so _different_. What I quickly realised is almost every site I visited was wallpapered in ads: banners between every paragraph, sidebars full of ads, and background images…

Yeah, browsing the web without uBlock Origin is an extremely shocking experience. I end up installing uBlock Origin in every single browser I come across.

The most aggravating for me is ads that follow me throughout the page as I scroll or show up out of nowhere while I'm reading rudely pushing the text away.

Re: My uBlock Origin filters to remove distractions

#159

Post by hutzlibu »

lopis wrote: post #94
robbyking wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There really are two different version of the internet, and which one you use depends on how how well your ad blockers are configured. I was using my mom's laptop over the holidays, and it took me a minute to realize why every site I visited looked so _different_. What I quickly realised is almost every site I visited was wallpapered in ads: banners between every paragraph, sidebars full of ads, and background images…

The ads covering the whole background of some websites websites are the most outrageous thing I had the pleasure to discover recently after so much time of ad blocking. They are absolutely aggressive to your very soul.

I found the ads covering all of the foreground to be more annoying, where you even cannot close them, without opening the link. Pity on those who do not know what a adblocker is and have no one to tell them.

Re: My uBlock Origin filters to remove distractions

#160

Post by ronjouch »

mig4ng wrote: post #112
ronjouch wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup yup. - Standard CSS (for userContent.css): https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Attribute_s... - uBlock Origin: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Static-filter-syntax & https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Procedural-cosmetic-f... Still, sometimes it's difficult/impossible to make a reliable filter, and in such cases I'd rather not have it than have a brittle one.

Yes, I feel the same. Even though I still have some brittle rules, I avoid most and prefer filtering for specific text or classes/ids and find the correct element from there. Before I did not use uBlock to filter elements that much because I used the filter. I wonder if you have your filter rules open source or available somewhere. Please share.

I didn't make the effort to share them, sorry. That being said,

1. My rules are not any different from yours. I doubt you'll learn much from them given what you're already doing in your repo.

2. I feel that the "what to hide" / "not to hide" choice is too personal to be reusable by anyone else. I'm sure some of the stuff I hide will be considered excessive, and some will be considered missing. What I enjoy in this HN thread is that we share the { practice, tools, docs, tips }, then to each their own :)

3. I'm not interested in maintaining a public repo of that kind of stuff, and/or replying to Issues. So, would rather not make it public.

Sorry/notsorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ , at any rate, glad we're sharing tips around the practice.

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