How do I get SelfControl to only block Google Reader?
November 15, 2010 8:18 AM   Subscribe

How can I get SelfControl to recognize Google Reader but not Google on the blacklist?

I'm a fan of SelfControl, but have not been able to figure out how to just block Google Reader but not the entire google.com domain. Is this possible? reader.google.com doesn't work and I haven't been able to find any alternatives.
posted by AmitinLA to Computers & Internet (7 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Leechblock?
posted by special-k at 8:42 AM on November 15, 2010


My Google Reader's URL is google.com/reader, not reader.google.com.
posted by fenriq at 9:22 AM on November 15, 2010


fenriq, it doesn't matter -- blocking Google Reader with any address using Self-Control blocks all of Google.

AmitinLA, I would also like to know the answer to this question!
posted by pised at 12:24 PM on November 15, 2010


You probably will have to use a browser based solution. Once you get up in the the domain name or URL realm you are beyond what can be done by blocking via firewall/DNS which is what SelfControl is doing.

reader.google.com and google.com may resolve to the same IP address for you. If you block one with SelfControl then you block both. No way around it.

google.com and google.com/reader will resolve to the same IP address. You can't block them independently with SelfControl.

This type of selective blocking can only be done at the application level. A browser extension for instance. Or a filtering proxy server.

I've peeked at the source of SelfControl and written the Ubuntu clone version. I could guarantee you that what you want to do is impossible in my port.
posted by zengargoyle at 12:53 PM on November 15, 2010


If the main reason you still want Google is for search, a workable alternative might be to use a Google mirror like Scroogle. I'm not sure how SelfControl interacts with email clients, so I'm not sure what you'd do for getting to Gmail.
posted by kagredon at 1:13 PM on November 15, 2010


SelfControl does this:

Blacklist: block IP with firewall. add hostname to 127.0.0.1 entry to hosts file.
Whitelist: block all IP addresses, then allow specified IPs through.

So if you Blacklist Google, you can't lookup google.com/reader and couldn't get to it anyway.
If you Whitelist reader.google.com and is is on the same IP as google.com would be then you can get to google too. (my google reader is also at google.com/reader).
posted by zengargoyle at 1:53 PM on November 15, 2010


It's drastic but every few months I dump my google reader subscriptions to an opml file and then raze the web interface. That gives me a month or so with a clear head before I start building them back up again. I would recommend this.
posted by kjell at 10:45 PM on November 15, 2010


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