Hiding advertising/useless elements on GOTD site with AdBlock Plus

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Hiding advertising/useless elements on GOTD site with AdBlock Plus

(28 posts) (10 voices)

Started 14 years ago by GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
Latest reply from GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith

GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
Blocked
I guess the GOTD team wouldn't like this, but for those of us who use AdBlock Plus and want to do a thorough job of getting rid of every last piece of useless elements on the GOTD site, here are some rules I added for ABP. Note that these rules supplement the EasyList (USA) subscription.

(In order of display in my ABP preferences page:)
Informer hit tracking:
```
|http://hits.informer.com/*
```
Stickr (all sites that use the sidebar tab):
```
|http://stickr.com/load/button/?*
```
Recent software search (most pointless thing on the site):
```
giveawayoftheday.com##DIV#pop-searches
```
Recent software search sidebar (on giveaway pages):
```
giveawayoftheday.com##DIV#pop-searches-sidebar
```
"Search for software" searchbar (aka fake search):
```
giveawayoftheday.com##DIV[style="margin: 1em 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 12px;"]
```
(Note: I can't get rid of the label for the bar because it'll remove all other similar labels.)
Registry cleaner ad on the front page (that doesn't display properly when ABP is active):
```
giveawayoftheday.com##P[style="margin-top: 2em;"]
```
Adding those rules will clean up the page a bit, and it'll speed up page loading time a bit (because they're not parsed and displayed).
Posted 14 years ago #
goodgotd
Member

I just use NoScript and only allow Giveawayoftheday.com, and I've never even *seen* Stickr. I used the reg patch to put software informer in the freezer, and that's all I need. even on the laptop at USB 1.1 speeds on a USB-Ethernet dongle.

Posted 14 years ago #
GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
Blocked

A note: Adding these rules doesn't stop the filtered code from downloading, it's just not displayed.

Posted 14 years ago #
goodgotd
Member

what about my solution- does it simply hide or block dl?

Posted 14 years ago #
GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
Blocked

It blocks, but the junk on the GOTD page isn't hidden (which means you can still see it). The point of this thread is to make it so you can't see it. It's impossible to not download the junk in the first place because it is a part of the entire page, and not an external resource.

Posted 14 years ago #
Lester (Chip)
English Mod

I use AdBlock+ Element Hiding Helper for Google Chrome. With that I don't have to enter in anything. I click the block button then on the page click what I want to hide and it hides it for me. Here's what GiveawayoftheDay looks like for me now.

Posted 14 years ago #
GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
Blocked

Actually, that's what I used in the first place. However, the helper can be a bit finicky, so it's the fastest if you enter the rules directly.

Posted 14 years ago #
GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
Blocked

The rule to block the new Share button:
|http://s.web.informer.com/favorites-button.js

Posted 14 years ago #
Buzz
Member

Just today saw that hideous thing at bottom (before I came to this message board), and had to
add 'block retrieval of URL' [http://s.web.informer.com/] to admuncher. Now that's a lulu of an ad.

Posted 14 years ago #
Dragonlair
Member

Thanks for the hints! I got it blocked with adblocker plus and noticed I had an error in my filter to block the stickr. I got that fixed and now I don't see hide nor hair of either!

Posted 14 years ago #
ilta
Member

Oh my god. Thank you so much. That crap almost had me vowing never to come back.

Pop-ups were a despicable practice 10 years ago; they aren't any better now. Sorry, GOTD: if you want to make money from ads, go ahead, that's cool, but don't interfere with my browsing. Any ad that actively interferes with my browsing gets blocked, period.

Posted 14 years ago #
goodgotd
Member

I still think noscript stomps the off-site-supplied adware easier.

Posted 14 years ago #
Inas
Member

I agree about "NoScript" being effective (for sure) - but it then interferes with other operations that normally require scripts to run. Oh well, nothing's perfect I guess.

Posted 14 years ago #
Bigun
Member

I have been using "Ad Muncher" several years on one of my computers. The product has been around for over ten years and I have seen a number of improvements during the time that I been using the program.

"Ad Muncher" is a very sophisticated and feature rich program. I use the default settings because I have seldom seen a reason to script customized filters. For those that enjoy using filters, you can fill an un-halting day on the Ad Muncher playground. Does it have proxies? Does it have proxies? - It has ooudolls.

"Ad Muncher" is not freeware and a license covers one computer. If you take advantage of the thirty day trial, and compare the results that you get with Ad Muncher with other ad and pop-up blocking programs, I am pretty sure that you'll end up purchasing Ad Muncher.

Ad Muncher comes in basic and professional versions. The basic version is updated on a weekly basis and the professional version is updated daily. Licensing agreements have changed several times during the time that I've been using the program. I guess that I should purchase a license for my second computer before another change in licensing occurs.

http://www.admuncher.com/

Posted 14 years ago #
goodgotd
Member

yes, the default for noscript is forbid if not told to admit. but when I need the site to script i usually use the tempoary permission only, so it reverts.

FWIW, having an override on the color scheme causes more sites to mess up than noscript.

Posted 14 years ago #
GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
Blocked

Say, could someone merge the new rule with the rest of the others? Thanks.

Posted 14 years ago #
copmom
Member

ummmm.. question! If I installed No Script in Firefox, would that stop java script from working? Several web sites require it be enabled so they work, such as PayPal!
--------------
edit: Never mind.. it explained my question.. but now I keep having a pop up box showing the No Script info. Grrrrrr.

Posted 14 years ago #
goodgotd
Member

copmom- I think the pop-ups can be toned down in the settings. Im just too lazy. but this site I have *only* giveawayoftheday.com allowed.

Posted 14 years ago #
Buskieboy
Member

I found that using "ADBLOCK Plus" with the filter:

|http://s.web.informer.com/*

Got rid of the damned cursed thing. All gone. Bye-bye.

Shame on GOTD leaving it's members to fend for themselves like
this and having to find out how to get rid of an intrusive and
annoying site feature. Why are you so silent?

Posted 14 years ago #
GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
Blocked

The problem with editing the hosts file is that it's not for the faint of heart. It's not foolproof, either. And it can't narrow down on individual addresses, just domains. And what if you got a local web server running on port 80? (And there's a reason that the file is in the drivers folder. Files from there is not for regular users to modify.)

Posted 14 years ago #
Bigun
Member

I read all and tried many of the above suggested ways of eliminating the pop-up from "informer.com".

I found at least one thing objectionable to each of the solutions that I tried. The solution that worked the best at eliminating the "informer.com" pop-up was using "NoScript". This solution requires using the Firefox browser with the "NoScript" add-on. The bad part of using this solution is that the solution eliminates all Java scripts on any website that uses JavaScript.

Ad Muncher is my favorite way of eliminating advertisements because it can be customized to fit all occasions. For some reason Ad Muncher failed to eliminate the GOTD pop up using its native filters. I wrote a filter that when used with Ad Muncher will eliminate the GOTD pop-up and leave other JavaScript applications untouched.

The following is what I used to eliminate the "informer.com" pop-up using the Ad Muncher application:

open Ad Muncher's configuration menu

click on "my filters" then click on the "add" button and type
the following (without the quotation marks) to the filter description:

" *.informer.com "

in the filter category type (without the quotation marks): " block retrieval of URL "

This fixed the problem for me. I made some other changes to Ad Muncher as well. If you find that the filter as I described it is not working, let me know and I will tell you the other changes that I made.

.

Posted 14 years ago #
Inas
Member

Hi Bigun, actually, using NoScript does not forbid all "java-script-based" sites from using "java-script." The No-Script firefox add-on allows the user to designate which sites should (or should not) be blocked from implementing "java-script," so the user is in full control of training the "No-Script" add-on to behave as desired by the user. Please go back and read the "No-Script" guidance to verify this for yourself.

Posted 14 years ago #
GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
Blocked

Meh. I still feel that ABP does the job well. IMO it's better to leave JS on rather than being paranoid as long as you watch where you're going.

Posted 14 years ago #
GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
Blocked

To block the latest Idea Informer:
giveawayoftheday.com##DIV[style="position: static; clear: both;"]

(Could a mod merge these posts?)

Posted 14 years ago #
GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
Blocked

In case you don't use Facebook and have no use for Like buttons...
giveawayoftheday.com##DIV[style="clear: both;"]

Posted 14 years ago #
GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
Blocked

Scratch the above. It screws up the GOTD home page. Instead, use:
giveawayoftheday.com##IFRAME[style="border: medium none; overflow: hidden; width: 450px; height: 80px;"]

Posted 14 years ago #
GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
Blocked

New rule for the Facebook Like button (it's a minor change):
giveawayoftheday.com##IFRAME[style="border: medium none; overflow: hidden; width: 400px; height: 80px;"]

Posted 14 years ago #
GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
Blocked

Rule for little text advertising under the "not available" text for expired giveaways:
giveawayoftheday.com##DIV[style="width: 100%; position: relative;"]

Posted 14 years ago #

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