slashdot.org: ads / breakage / detection

[hyler]

Prerequisites

• This is NOT a YouTube, Facebook, Twitch or a shortener/hosting site report. These sites MUST be reported by clicking their respective links.
• I read and understand the policy about what is a valid filter issue.
• I verified that this issue is not a duplicate. (Use this button to find out.). Comment in the old issue threads even when they are closed.
• I did not remove any of the default filter lists, or I have verified that the issue was not caused by removing any of the default lists.
• I did not enable additional filter lists, or I have verified that the issue still occurs without enabling additional filter lists.
• I do not have custom filters/rules, or I have verified that the issue still occurs without custom filters/rules.
• I am not using uBlock Origin along with other content blockers.
• I have verified that the web browser's built-in content blocker/tracking protection, network wide/DNS blocking, or my VPN is not causing the issue.
• I have verified that other extensions are not causing the issue.
• If this is about a breakage or detection, I have verified that it is caused by uBlock Origin and isn't a site issue.
• I did not answer truthfully to ALL the above checkboxes.

URL address of the web page

https://slashdot.org/

Category

ads

Description

I used to see absolutely no ads on Slashdot, but lately they have come up in full force. This is Firefox on Windows 10. For the record, in iOS, where I use 1Blocker (with Safari), I've also started seeing them. So I wonder if Slashdot has changed how they serve them, so they can evade the filters. (Creating a custom filter [by using the picker on the elements] completely destroys the whole site.)

Other extensions used

Privacy Badger (but turning it off does not affect the issue).

Screenshot(s)

Screenshot(s)

Configuration

uBlock Origin: 1.59.0
Firefox: 133
filterset (summary):
 network: 136118
 cosmetic: 48977
 scriptlet: 20727
 html: 1962
listset (total-discarded, last-updated):
 default:
  user-filters: 0-0, never
  ublock-filters: 40154-138, 19m Δ
  ublock-badware: 11105-6, 19m Δ
  ublock-privacy: 1097-2, 19m Δ
  ublock-unbreak: 2528-20, 19m Δ
  ublock-quick-fixes: 85-4, 19m Δ
  easylist: 77737-589, 19m
  easyprivacy: 53053-25, 19m Δ
  urlhaus-1: 20025-0, 19m
  plowe-0: 3540-615, 18m
filterset (user): [empty]
trustedset:
 added: [array of 7 redacted]
userSettings:
 advancedUserEnabled: true
hiddenSettings: [none]
supportStats:
 allReadyAfter: 661 ms
 maxAssetCacheWait: 239 ms
 cacheBackend: indexedDB
popupPanel:
 blocked: 15
 network:
  slashdot.org: 3
  6sc.co: 1
  ad-delivery.net: 2
  btloader.com: 1
  criteo.net: 1
  d3tglifpd8whs6.cloudfront.net: 1
  fsdn.com: 2
  googlesyndication.com: 1
  ml314.com: 1
  slashdotmedia.com: 2
 extended:
  ###announcement
  ###main-nav-badge-link
  ###slashdot_deals
  ##.deals-wrapper
  ##[id^="div-gpt-ad"]:not([style^="width: 1px; height: 1px; posit…
  ##div[id^="div-gpt-"]:not([style^="width: 1px; height: 1px; posi…
  ##.adwrap
  ###slashboxes > .deals-rail
  ##.scroll-fixable.rail-right > .deals-rail
  ##.railad
  #@#[id^="div-gpt-ad"]
  #@#div[id^="div-gpt-"]

[stephenhawk8054]

Test again in a new Firefox profile with only uBO and its default settings.

[hyler]

Thank you for replying. I see it's been tagged with "unable to reproduce" but I am still seeing the same, even with a new profile and only uBO installed.

[stephenhawk8054]

Which country are you when accessing the site?

[hyler]

Which country are you when accessing the site?

I'm in the US. Recently (within the last 90 days) I moved from TN to IA, not sure if this makes any difference. The only other (seemingly) relevant piece of info is that my iPhone, with Safari, which uses 1Blocker, has also started showing ads on Slashdot. I have not reached out to the 1Blocker devs (yet).

Edit: I want to add that I'm seeing ads also in Firefox on macOS, but not in Edge on macOS (obv both running uBO). (My original report was Firefox on Windows 10.)

[krystian3w]

Try update add-on to 1.60+

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/versions/

[hyler]

Try update add-on to 1.60+

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/versions/

Looks like I'm on 1.61.2 already.

[hyler]

Here's a short screen recording of me trying to pick elements to disable. At some point the filter picks up the root domain and the site breaks completely (as expected). Sorry, OBS didn't capture the mouse context menus (I messed up the settings) but I'm right-clicking and selecting "Block element."

Youtube Link

[krystian3w]

Strange, we have HTML filtering to disable Ad-Shield. Try found in logger these:

[stephenhawk8054]

Yeah, I can't reproduce the ads either

[hyler]

I fixed it! The one solution I didn't try early enough: I uninstalled the addon and installed it again. I'm sorry for the wild goose chase. Thank you for your attention to the problem I was having.

[stephenhawk8054]

@JobcenterTycoon I think replace filters need to be updated?

[OneOfMany07]

(I plan to look at other bugs too, but thought I'd post here first)

Only just happened for first time for me (month later plus), but I also get a warning dialog that an ad blocker is causing problems (with a way to get more info). Wonder if someone is creating malicious AliExpress ads, but not serving them often or far? I've got old hardware so that might shift their results slightly.

Guessing the default filter list is safe, but I enabled everything minus all privacy. Guessing original report used an additional filter list (beyond defaults) until they uninstalled, then were at defaults again.

x86 based Windows 10 + Firefox user, in US (haven't moved at all, and don't live near where the other person does... I'm west coast), using currently released/updated versions of everything (I manually trigger update checks many places). Including also being on v1.61.2 of ublock origin extension mentioned above.

[stephenhawk8054]

Force update the filter list by clicking on this link.

[D3SL]

Force update the filter list by clicking on this link.

Doesn't help. Slashdot's got the "html-load" malware running that detects adblock and breaks the site. I even have the tinyshield userscript and it's not enough.

[stephenhawk8054]

They regularly interfere our filters, so don't expect any solutions being stable. If you don't want to wait for fixes, you can use these as your custom filters: https://github.com/stephenhawk8054/css#filters

[JobcenterTycoon]

Ok im able to reproduce with a US VPN but with the latest filter the site works fine for me.