what is going on with my ad blockers?
April 26, 2018 3:39 PM Subscribe
I use Ublock Origin, although I don't know how to use the dashboard at all. I read mainly The Guardian and Buzzfeed online and I'm not used to seeing adverts. Recently, about three or four times so far, I'm reading the Guardian and when I open a new page it's swarming with adverts. Always in the evening, 9 or 10 pm, always The Guardian. Clicking on the individual blocking elements in the bottom line of the Ublock Origin icon does nothing. How is this happening and what can I do to stop it?
I can't read with all that flashing and jumping type and moving image stuff going on - I'm kinda shocked the ads are this intrusive. I re-activated Adblock Plus, which I haven't used for a while: even with both adblockers running, empty squares show up in the page layout labeled 'advertisement'. Has the Guardian worked out a way to disable readers' adblockers? Why does it only happen at night? Has it got anything to do with not shutting down my laptop regularly?
I can't read with all that flashing and jumping type and moving image stuff going on - I'm kinda shocked the ads are this intrusive. I re-activated Adblock Plus, which I haven't used for a while: even with both adblockers running, empty squares show up in the page layout labeled 'advertisement'. Has the Guardian worked out a way to disable readers' adblockers? Why does it only happen at night? Has it got anything to do with not shutting down my laptop regularly?
Adverts on The Guardian are ridiculously intrusive, scrolling the page up and down so you can't read anything. I don't know what they are thinking but the site is unusable without an adblocker. Ublock Origin does work for me so I second what Aleyn says, but also if you have two adblockers they could be fighting each other.
posted by Lanark at 4:40 PM on April 26, 2018
posted by Lanark at 4:40 PM on April 26, 2018
Response by poster: Well it's very odd. No ads on Buzzfeed, or BoingBoing, or the Independent. Went over to Guardian front page, swarming with nasty ads. And this has never happened in the day time. I will hold off on trying malwarebytes till tomorrow in case any more suggestions come in - never had to use anything like that before on this laptop.
posted by glasseyes at 5:23 PM on April 26, 2018
posted by glasseyes at 5:23 PM on April 26, 2018
What are the ads for? What ad network? Right click and inspect them in chrome.
posted by dilaudid at 5:45 PM on April 26, 2018
posted by dilaudid at 5:45 PM on April 26, 2018
Best answer: I can't reproduce your findings, ads are blocked as usual here but try this: go to the ublock dashboard, select the My rules tab and paste this in the temporary rules text box:
Click the orange save button then go back to the guardian and refresh the page.
posted by Bangaioh at 6:23 PM on April 26, 2018
theguardian.com * 1p-script block
theguardian.com * 3p-frame block
theguardian.com * 3p-script block
theguardian.com * inline-script blockClick the orange save button then go back to the guardian and refresh the page.
posted by Bangaioh at 6:23 PM on April 26, 2018
Response by poster: Oh dear Bangaioh, that hasn't worked.
The rules already there were:
no-cosmetic-filtering: www.theguardian.com true
no-large-media: behind-the-scene false
no-large-media: www.theguardian.com true
behind-the-scene * * noop
behind-the-scene * 1p-script noop
behind-the-scene * 3p noop
behind-the-scene * 3p-frame noop
behind-the-scene * 3p-script noop
behind-the-scene * image noop
I think the first three lines of that are probably from me fiddling about this evening. And the rest probably from me fiddling around some other time without knowing what I was doing.
posted by glasseyes at 7:03 PM on April 26, 2018
The rules already there were:
no-cosmetic-filtering: www.theguardian.com true
no-large-media: behind-the-scene false
no-large-media: www.theguardian.com true
behind-the-scene * * noop
behind-the-scene * 1p-script noop
behind-the-scene * 3p noop
behind-the-scene * 3p-frame noop
behind-the-scene * 3p-script noop
behind-the-scene * image noop
I think the first three lines of that are probably from me fiddling about this evening. And the rest probably from me fiddling around some other time without knowing what I was doing.
posted by glasseyes at 7:03 PM on April 26, 2018
Dumb question, but is your uBlock enabled for that site? When you go to The Guardian, is your uBlock icon red, and does it have a number on it? Mine blocked 39 ads on the front page of the Guardian US edition as of 9:54 PM Eastern time. If the icon isn't red, it's disabled for that site. If it is red and shows a number and you're still seeing ads, something else (malware) may be injecting them.
Running two ad blockers at the same time may lead to unpredictable and negative behavior, so I would avoid doing that.
posted by cnc at 7:13 PM on April 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Running two ad blockers at the same time may lead to unpredictable and negative behavior, so I would avoid doing that.
posted by cnc at 7:13 PM on April 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: All of the ads have a Guardian Labs logo and then a badge saying paid for by so-and-so. So I've right clicked a few times on a couple of them and had a look at the inspector - and then the page has reloaded to give this message:
Unable to load page
This may be happening for a number of reasons:
One or more of your browser extensions is interfering with this page, e.g. ad-blocker
There is a network connectivity issue
How to resolve this issue
Check your network connection and then click the refresh button below. If the problem continues, try turning off one or more of your browser extensions and refreshing the page again.
Well, I don't understand html well enough to understand much of what the inspector displays. Yes the icon is red and it's showing ...45 blocked things. Like as if it has actually blocked them. The thing about malware is I'm not seeing ads on any other site. I had a look at The Sun just now and - not a single ad.
I feel The Guardian is toying with me.
posted by glasseyes at 7:26 PM on April 26, 2018
Unable to load page
This may be happening for a number of reasons:
One or more of your browser extensions is interfering with this page, e.g. ad-blocker
There is a network connectivity issue
How to resolve this issue
Check your network connection and then click the refresh button below. If the problem continues, try turning off one or more of your browser extensions and refreshing the page again.
Well, I don't understand html well enough to understand much of what the inspector displays. Yes the icon is red and it's showing ...45 blocked things. Like as if it has actually blocked them. The thing about malware is I'm not seeing ads on any other site. I had a look at The Sun just now and - not a single ad.
I feel The Guardian is toying with me.
posted by glasseyes at 7:26 PM on April 26, 2018
I think the first three lines of that are probably from me fiddling about this evening. And the rest probably from me fiddling around some other time without knowing what I was doing.
The first 3 are indeed from the elements in the bottom line you mentioned in the OP, the others are default rules that should be left alone.
cnc makes a good point though, did you disable blocking completely for theguardian by accident? You can verify that in the dashboard, Whitelist tab, if there's an entry for the guardian there that's your problem.
BTW, if you haven't made any custom rules yourself, a good idea would be to reset everything to defaults in the Settings tab.
posted by Bangaioh at 7:28 PM on April 26, 2018
The first 3 are indeed from the elements in the bottom line you mentioned in the OP, the others are default rules that should be left alone.
cnc makes a good point though, did you disable blocking completely for theguardian by accident? You can verify that in the dashboard, Whitelist tab, if there's an entry for the guardian there that's your problem.
BTW, if you haven't made any custom rules yourself, a good idea would be to reset everything to defaults in the Settings tab.
posted by Bangaioh at 7:28 PM on April 26, 2018
Response by poster: No, I hadn't whitelisted the Guardian. I've reset to default settings and reloaded and now I'm not getting ads on the front page but as soon as I go to another page the ads are back.
posted by glasseyes at 7:42 PM on April 26, 2018
posted by glasseyes at 7:42 PM on April 26, 2018
Response by poster: Thanks for all the suggestions though everybody. And Bangaioh, thanks for talking me through stuff.
:-{
posted by glasseyes at 7:51 PM on April 26, 2018
:-{
posted by glasseyes at 7:51 PM on April 26, 2018
Last try to see if ublock is working or not:
1. in Settings enable I am an advanced user (required reading) (this is important and I should have included it in my first reply)
2. in My rules put
and click save.
3. go to the guardian again and reload with shift+F5, or ctrl+shift+R if you're using firefox, to flush the browser cache.
You should only see styled text, no ads and no pictures. If you still see them, then ublock is broken for you for some reason and I have no idea why, sorry.
posted by Bangaioh at 7:56 PM on April 26, 2018
1. in Settings enable I am an advanced user (required reading) (this is important and I should have included it in my first reply)
2. in My rules put
* * * blockand click save.
3. go to the guardian again and reload with shift+F5, or ctrl+shift+R if you're using firefox, to flush the browser cache.
You should only see styled text, no ads and no pictures. If you still see them, then ublock is broken for you for some reason and I have no idea why, sorry.
posted by Bangaioh at 7:56 PM on April 26, 2018
Response by poster: ***: are spaces important? And does ***block go in temporary rules?
posted by glasseyes at 8:00 PM on April 26, 2018
posted by glasseyes at 8:00 PM on April 26, 2018
Yes, spaces matter, copy paste it to temporary rules, then click save. And re-check if the advanced user setting is toggled on, otherwise it won't work.
posted by Bangaioh at 8:03 PM on April 26, 2018
posted by Bangaioh at 8:03 PM on April 26, 2018
Ok, so ublock is working. Reset to default again, then go to Filter lists tab, click Update now, wait until it completes then test again. When testing always force refresh by flushing the browser cache.
posted by Bangaioh at 8:11 PM on April 26, 2018
posted by Bangaioh at 8:11 PM on April 26, 2018
Response by poster: Thank you very much Bangaioh. I tried it and the front page is ad free but all the other pages come up with ads.
Well, I must go to bed. Thanks again for all your help.
posted by glasseyes at 9:44 PM on April 26, 2018
Well, I must go to bed. Thanks again for all your help.
posted by glasseyes at 9:44 PM on April 26, 2018
These three rules work for me to at least allow images and some formatting:
theguardian.com * * block
theguardian.com guim.co.uk css allow
theguardian.com guim.co.uk image allowResponse by poster: Thank you very much everyone. Problem still occurring this morning, I copypasted Bangaioh's first script into temporary rules and it seems to have fixed it so far. Phew! Should I click 'commit' or something now?
Where can I go, without any coding knowledge, to learn how to use Ublock Origin better?
Thanks to you as well XMLicious. Internet cookies all round. I got to bed at 6 in the morning after all that refreshing.
posted by glasseyes at 3:44 AM on April 27, 2018
Where can I go, without any coding knowledge, to learn how to use Ublock Origin better?
Thanks to you as well XMLicious. Internet cookies all round. I got to bed at 6 in the morning after all that refreshing.
posted by glasseyes at 3:44 AM on April 27, 2018
Best answer: Yes, commit those to make them permanent and it shouldn't happen again, if you don't commit them then next time you restart the browser they won't be there anymore and you'll need to re-add them. Committing makes them permanent.
The reason they didn't work the first time is because I forgot to tell you to toggle the advanced user setting on, without that no dynamic filtering (ublock's name for that type of rules) will be enforced. My bad.
Note that they may affect some site functionality like comments so if you think something is not working as it should the first thing to do is removing those rules, or just disabling ublock completely, to troubleshoot.
For learning about uBlock Origin I recommend the author's own wiki, particularly the popup UI, element picker and blocking sections. You don't have to type rules into the text box, you can easily achieve the same effects from the UI.
posted by Bangaioh at 4:56 AM on April 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
The reason they didn't work the first time is because I forgot to tell you to toggle the advanced user setting on, without that no dynamic filtering (ublock's name for that type of rules) will be enforced. My bad.
Note that they may affect some site functionality like comments so if you think something is not working as it should the first thing to do is removing those rules, or just disabling ublock completely, to troubleshoot.
For learning about uBlock Origin I recommend the author's own wiki, particularly the popup UI, element picker and blocking sections. You don't have to type rules into the text box, you can easily achieve the same effects from the UI.
posted by Bangaioh at 4:56 AM on April 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Just to mention, for anyone with similar questions, I think I exacerbated the problem by:
1/ not copy/pasting Bangaioh's script the first time I tried it (I typed it in), and
2/ not flushing the browser cache till late in the day.
and thanks again, so much!
posted by glasseyes at 4:59 AM on April 27, 2018
1/ not copy/pasting Bangaioh's script the first time I tried it (I typed it in), and
2/ not flushing the browser cache till late in the day.
and thanks again, so much!
posted by glasseyes at 4:59 AM on April 27, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Aleyn at 3:47 PM on April 26, 2018