Why not blocking the clickbait (anti-buzz)?

Various discussions related to Adblock Plus development
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Mr21
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2014 7:28 pm
Location: paris
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Why not blocking the clickbait (anti-buzz)?

Post by Mr21 »

Hi :)


I am a user of AdblockPlus and I'm also a french student developper from Paris.

Recently I think about making an add-on for Chrome/Firefox about blocking the clickbait technique (cf. wikipedia) over the web.
Clickbait, is in my opinion the second stupide thing on internet after abusive advert.

For example this buzz article: http://www.buzzfeed.com/abagg/youve-bee ... whole-life
Has the title: "This Girl Figured Out The Most Casual Way To Shoo Away Pigeons, It Might Just Change Your Life"
It will change my life! forever! whaaaooo!
But in fact... it's just a girl who lifts her leg and scared some birds.
Normally the title has to be something like that: "This girl lifts her leg and scared the birds that way.".

Who would click on that link once the teasing gone? nobody.
So there is a lot of time to save by doing this.

I am thinking about writing an add-on who blocks this marketing technique by rewrite automatically every link on the page.
It's very different than some basics filters.

But why adblockplus can't propose something like this?
Something new on adblock and all the users can enable or disable this new option if they want?

Before thinking at the technical developping part, etc.
Is it something realistic?
Jhunka

Re: Why not blocking the clickbait (anti-buzz)?

Post by Jhunka »

wow.. that would be a fantastic feature, if somehow target URL text may be either updated or some kind of overlay text may be provided with short summary of real content from that URL. OR just create a block feature that expands the shortened URLs to get to final URL and if the target URL belongs to one of the click bait sites, just blocks it like other adblocks.
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Mr21
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2014 7:28 pm
Location: paris
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Re: Why not blocking the clickbait (anti-buzz)?

Post by Mr21 »

Yes, there is so much to do and I like the way you like this feature :D

I want to know if it's realistic or not.
lewisje
Posts: 2743
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:07 pm

Re: Why not blocking the clickbait (anti-buzz)?

Post by lewisje »

Filtering HTML and redirect tracking have been considered for ABP and rejected for performance reasons: forum/viewtopic.php?t=5977#p53424

One thing you could do with ABP's existing capabilities is figure out some common characteristics of groups of clickbait links; if they're injected via Javascript, they can be blocked altogether by blocking the JS file, and if they have common patterns in their HTML IDs or CSS classes, they can be hidden with element-hiding rules; I remember dealing with something like this, albeit more obviously spammy, before: forum/viewtopic.php?t=24576
There's a buzzin' in my brain I really can't explain; I think about it before they make me go to bed.
bleargh
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 5:34 pm

Re: Why not blocking the clickbait (anti-buzz)?

Post by bleargh »

What you can do is block all those stupid clickbait things in the sidebar of news websites. I do that all the time. Are there any lists we can subscribe to for this purpose? Does anyone want to start one? I have a lot of filters for this already, like

Code: Select all

businessinsider.com##.seealso-image
###most_popular_stories
cracked.com###Recommended
###SecondaryContent
dcist.com###related-module
###hot-network-questions
##.OUTBRAIN
~engadget.com##.blogroll
##.outbrain
##.most-popular
cnn.com##DIV.cnn_strycrcntr
##.discovery-posts
##.mostpopular
###outbrain_widget_0
##.featured-content
##.nrelate_related
##DIV#mostPopWidget
##DIV#insideNYTimes
washingtonpost.com##.most-post
##.mostPopular
##.promoBox
###most-read-news
dailymail.co.uk##DIV.tvshowbiz.item
dailymail.co.uk##DIV.femail.item
##.most_viewed_box
##DIV.most_popular
arstechnica.com###recommendations
theregister.co.uk##.headline-list
gothamist.com###related-module
##.latest-stories
##.module-mostpopular
##DIV#outbrain
edn.com###popular_tab
##DIV#outbrain_widget_0.OUTBRAIN
###related-posts
gothamist.com###newsletterPromo-outter
##.story-box-news-politics
slate.com##.story-link
##.editorial-recommend
##.reporter-stories
gothamist.com###section-featured
##.in-case-you-missed
##.more-news
theguardian.com###promo
###footer-partner-feeds
##.subbuzzpromo
theatlantic.com##.promoColumn
washingtonpost.com##.image-promotion
buzzfeed.com##.sidebar_featured_unit
##[id^="outbrain_widget"]
###mostPopular
###mostShared
##DIV#MostPopStories
buzzfeed.com###next_on
huffingtonpost.com##.three-up
huffingtonpost.com##DIV#threeup_top_wrapper
eetimes.com##.HomePage_Whatsnew
huffingtonpost.com##.most_popular_entry
###most-popular
##.col-promoted
###outbrain_widget_2
##.rss-promo
motherjones.com##.view-id-photoessay
pcmag.com###pcmag-inside
###most-watched-videos-wrapper
###related_articles
###most-read-content
csmonitor.com###inside-monitor
###mostDiscussed
###postREMLargePromos
theregister.co.uk###read_more_on
##.featuredpost
google.com##.t-FEATURED_VIDEOS
###most-shared
time.com##.popular-content
weather.com##.wx-links.wx-stories-featured
washingtonpost.com###post-most-rr
##DIV#top_blog_links
###around_the_web
###rightcol_mostcommented
###rightcol_mostpopular_button
###rightcol_mostcommented_button
##.most-popular-multimedia
guardian.co.uk###promo
##DIV.hst-mostpopular
###taboola-grid-2x2
###article-promo-digital
##.mostShared
###bomRecommendation
##.bk-mostpop
###rightcol_mostpopular
###secondary-content
discovery.com##.sl_popular
###mod-related-articles
##.block-pt-stats-most-popular
##.tptn_featured
##DIV.snp_most_popular
slate.com##.most_read_and_commented
huffingtonpost.com###partner_box
geekosystem.com###sidebar-posts
##DIV.snp_most_popular_entry
##.featurePromo
makeuseof.com##.popular-post
telegraph.co.uk##.top-stories05
##.outbrain-table-recommendations-bottom
slate.com##.also_in_slate
inquisitr.com##.featured_wrap
cbsnews.com##.galleryColPromo
##.snp_dont_miss_container
time.com##.trending-bar.constrain
nypost.com##.widget_nypost_pagesix_rss_widget
nypost.com##.widget_nypost_trending_widget
answers.com##.latest_article_items
vice.com##.motherboard-portlet-recommended
###top_stories
###recent_popular
##.trending-posts-feed
###most_popular_bpages
gawker.com###post_list
gawker.com###sitetags
geekosystem.com###network
engadget.com##.featured_posts
##DIV#threeup_top_wrapper
foxnews.com##.section-featured
distractify.com##.after-post_item
aljazeera.com##.FeaturedBox
###most_popular_bpages DIV.popular-story
##.topic-promo
cnet.com###recentRelated
bbc.co.uk##.popstoryList
bbc.co.uk##.promobottombg
bustle.com##.mosaic-grid
livestrong.com###moreSlideshows
nypost.com###article-popular-this-week
nypost.com##.widget_nypost_top_articles_widget
slate.com##.rightrailstories
slate.com##.twocolumn-stories
##.viralated
###most_pop_stories
##.bw_most_popular_news
##.postrecommends
##.js-trending-now
cracked.com##.viral
cracked.com##.recommendedForYourPleasureModule
mic.com###related-content
###pagelet_trending_tags_and_topics
disqus.com###discovery-main
usatoday.com##.usanow-vid-title
###taboolacontent1
###taboolacontent2
hollywoodreporter.com##.taboola-new
hollywoodreporter.com###block-thrmovies-most_popular
huffingtonpost.co.uk##DIV#news_entries > DIV#related_images
home.myspace.com#DIV(id=home_coolNewVideos)
ibtimes.com##.bk_basic.bk_recommend
huffingtonpost.com##.snp_most_popular
huffingtonpost.com###mod-most-popular
huffingtonpost.com##.mod-most-popular
huffingtonpost.com###content-related
inquisitr.com##.nrelate_related
inquisitr.com###featured_posts-2
inquisitr.com###SocialWidget_popular
itworld.com##DIV.view-editor-picks
itworld.com##DIV.view-featured-blogs
india.com##.popular-photo-ra
###taboola-horizontalx4-responsive
###article-leaf-page-footer-taboola
##.taboola
taboolasyndication.com##*
laughingsquid.com##.featuredpost
mtv.com##.SM4MostPopularWidget
laughingsquid.com###top-posts-2
laughingsquid.com###jp-relatedposts
observer.com##.trendingnow4
theanimalrescuesite.com###recommended
##.mostPopularReviewsSplash
##.widget_time_most_popular
##.relatedNewsReports
##.mostDiscussed
aeon.co##.three.columns.thumb
bbc.com##.most-watched
bbc.com##.top_stories
bbc.com##.related-video-audio
###partner_stories
##.content-headlines-list
##.similar-articles
##.gab_relateditem
##.module--trending
##.article-trending
###editorpick
###nmSpecialLinksWrapper
###conde_nast_container
###more_top_news_container
9gag.com##.block-feature-cover
yourtango.com##[class*="view-must-see-video"]
yourtango.com##.view-must-read
##.posts-related
huffingtonpost.com###related_images
lifehacker.com###post_list
##.related_posts
##.nrelate-related-widget
buzzfeed.com##.related-links-full
motherboard.vice.com##.related_posts
##.related-posts
##TR.relatedTopics
sfgate.com###topmost
###mostPopWidget
nytimes.com##DIV#upNextWrapper
###mostViewedPostsContainer
vox.com##.most-read
###outbrain_dual_ad_fs_0_dual
###promotionModuleContainer
###module-just-in
etc.

and here are some more instructions:

http://tarstarkas.net/2013/09/use-adblo ... a-zergnet/
bleargh
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 5:34 pm

Re: Why not blocking the clickbait (anti-buzz)?

Post by bleargh »

I have a blocklist here: https://gist.github.com/endolith/da3b2e55516c42642df4 but I'm not good at adblock rules so please make suggestions
User avatar
mapx
Posts: 21940
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 2:01 pm

Re: Why not blocking the clickbait (anti-buzz)?

Post by mapx »

just use the official list fanboy's annoyances from en/subscriptions#type_other
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