Greasy Fork

Domains fail to block

Hi Jefferson,

Using: Firefox 63.0/Tampermonkey extension/macOS 10.12 The script is very promising but I have one general problem: several domains that regularly clutter my results don't have 'block' options. (This is down in the main list, not up above in the Google ads.) The script works as described when there is a 'block' option next to the url. I tried adding those domains to my block & perma-ban lists (tried both) but they still show. The main offenders include:

about.com reference.com informationvine.com example.com finecomb.com etc. etc.

I've tried to follow the instructions on your author site re managing block lists but I think I must be doing something wrong. Please help! Thanks.

PS btw is there any way to get rid of those Google ads at the top? I've tried everything Google accounts & Mozilla recommend but no luck.

Hi Jay, are those links in a special section that looks different from the rest of the results? If so, can you give some example search URLs that generate them?

Also, it's possible one of your extensions is injecting those "results" instead of their being organic Google results. The script should detect organic results from those sites but affiliate/ad links added by malware may not be detected.

No, not in a special section, inline with the main results. I've reviewed all my FF extensions (I don't use too many), as that was recommended in all the malware-prevention advice as a possible source of fake results. All these seem to be coming from reference-type sites like those I mentioned. They seem to be legitimate, nothing suspicious, but I would definitely classify them as 'adware' & I don't want them cluttering my results. I wish I could find a way to block those specific domains.

Can you suggest why those don't offer a 'block' option in your script?

Is there any way to add them directly into the script? My head is swimming but I seem to remember seeing a way to do that somewhere on Greasemonkey or Tampermonkey. I'll try to find it again.

I'll try to give some specific examples later but one is obviously a search for 'block google ads'. Thanks for the response, I'll keep on this.

Could you share the code of the results page? Nothing personal, please!

Right-click (if you have a one-button mouse, Ctrl+click) some part of the first result and then use Inspect Element. This should call up the Page Inspector tool. After you eyes adjust, you'll see the left side has a tree diagram of the HTML code of the page. Move the selection up the tree to one of these (you can stop looking when you find any of them):

<div id="rso" ...>
<div id="ires" ...>
<div id="search" ...>
<div id="res" ...>

Right-click that element, choose Copy, then Outer HTML.

To share that copied HTML, you can use Pastebin (no login required):

https://pastebin.com/

Give your paste a useful name like Google results code or something, and then after you save it, you'll have a URL to share back here.

If you think there might be different variations of the problem, you can create new pastes for other results pages.

Thanks.

OK, give me some time, I'll do that, still wake-up time here. Thanks.

OK, this one is truly random: I was searching for something by The Dream Syndicate (band) but Google seems to think I want a new Nissan or a tour to Antarctica or some such. This one was "Visit The Dream - Let's Plan Your Trip | inspirock.com". Again it was inline with the main search results with no block option. I hope I did this right, I did 2 of them, here are the Pastebin links:

The first is <div.id.= search ..." https://pastebin.com/A3H8iAhB

The second is <div.id.= res ..." https://pastebin.com/mFEz0vBQ

Good luck, I'm no techie & this is all gobbledegook to me. Thanks again.

PS I found that 'modify scripts' guide I mentioned on Tampermonkey. ... Q103: Is it possible to overwrite or extend a scripts includes and/or excludes? How is this working?

Haven't tried anything yet but here's the link if you have any suggestions/comments: https://tampermonkey.net/faq.php#Q103

I looked at the first paste and ran it through a "beautifier" to more easily see the layout. There are ads inserted between the results. If you scan down:

https://pastebin.com/86VALHQU

You will see the legit results start with:

<div class="g" ghhresult="unset">

The other ones are ads that run through the laubeyrietechnology.com site. When I search, this thread comes up about at least one Chrome extension associated with these ads, so be on the lookout for a problem Firefox extension:

https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/9k3lqn/laubeyrietechnologycombrowserhijack/

Yes! I owe you a big apology, I could & should have taken care of this myself if I had been more thorough checking my FF extensions. The culprit was the FF equivalent of that Chrome extension mentioned on the reddit thread (I just posted a comment there too) and I'd likewise used it so long I thought it was safe. I got so used to seeing 'Google ads' at the top of my results that I thought it was normal and that everything down below was supposedly legit. Now I understand that ONLY the ones for which your script provides a block are legit and the rest are just more ads. After removing that extension and running the same searches again, I have no ads anywhere (top or bottom) and every result shows your block option. I learned my lesson thanks to you & from now on I'll be very conservative with my FF extensions. If possible I'll definitely report that one.

Can't thank you enough! and very sorry for the unnecessary trouble. I would rate your script 'excellent' if that were an option but 'good' will have to do. Also please let me know if there's somewhere I can make a small donation. Kudos for the great job!

Unfortunately, some add-ons do "monetize" unexpectedly. It's difficult to be aware of such changes because of course they don't tell you.

I would love to have a feature where users could have the script report results pages where it isn't working correctly. But I would have to figure out how to do that in a privacy-respecting and spam-avoiding way, which seems like a challenge.

Thanks Jefferson, I appreciate the reply. In this case as I said the script was actually working properly but I didn't understand that the symptoms pointed to that bad FF add-on. I tried to report it directly to Mozilla but couldn't find an exact match in their authorized add-ons, even though I had used it with no issues for some time. Either they deleted it due to this now well-documented abuse, or I originally installed it via a third party. I did post a comment on the reddit thread you linked to + the main reddit FF forum (where it was also documented), warning users to get rid of it.

In any case it's a blessing to have uncluttered Google results back, almost a shock after dealing with the clutter for I don't remember how long, and one side-benefit of your script is that the block option immediately confirms that a link is legit. Thanks again & please let me know about that donation, I didn't find an option on the Greasy Fork script page or your author page.