EasyList Forum

Hi EasyList Crew,
Thanks for developing this great tool and approving my sign-up to this forum.

Recently we've discovered an issue with user redirects on our page with ad blockers on:
Intentionally clicking a redirect button on any of finder.com.au / finder.com / creditcard.com.au pages that opens a new tab with ad.doubleclick.net in the redirect path causes ad blockers to immediately shut down the newly opened tab when the redirect is triggered. This blocks users from reaching their navigation target, not ads.
E.g. by clicking Go to site for Unloan Variable Home Loan on

https://www.finder.com.au/home-loans/best-home-loans

Checking logs shows it's related to

||doubleclick.net^$popup

filter rule

This issue has also been first discussed with uBlock Origin team here: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/issues/21939
The suggestion was to reach out to you to work on an exception rule.

I have tested extending the existing EasyList exception rule by adding our domains
like that:

@@||ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/$popup,domain=billiger.de|guide-epargne.be|legacy.com|mail.yahoo.com|nytimes.com|spaargids.be|finder.com.au|finder.com|creditcard.com.au

It did the job well enough. Maybe there's even a better way to fully unblock the user to the final destination without a doubleclick domain warning, but at least the tab isn't shut down.

I've opened up the related issue and pull request on Github.
Github issue: https://github.com/easylist/easylist/issues/18277
Pull request: https://github.com/easylist/easylist/pull/18276

What should I do next?
Could you please help?

OS/Browser/Versions:

• OS/version: Mac OS Ventura 13.6.3 (22G436)
• Browser/version: Google Chrome Version 120.0.6099.199 (Official Build) (x86_64)
• Ad block extension/version: uBlock Origin 1.54.0

Can anybody help, please?

You should fix it directly on your end (without passing by ad.doubleclick.net)

Now:
click go to site => https://www.finder.com.au/redirect/home-loans/unloan-variable-home-loan-owner-occupier-secure.html => doRedirect => https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/trackclk/... => https://www.unloan.com.au/switch-to-unloan-awards ...

simply change to => click go to site => https://www.unloan.com.au/switch-to-unloan-awards ...

Thank you very much for your investigation and reply, intense!

Redirecting straight to Unloan wouldn't be blocked, but our use of doubleclick.net is crucial for redirection through our partner's setup, integral to our business operations, and not for serving ads or misdirecting our users.

My guess was this existing exception rule:

@@||ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/$popup,domain=billiger.de|guide-epargne.be|legacy.com|mail.yahoo.com|nytimes.com|spaargids.be

was created to handle such specific, non-intrusive cases for domains like billiger.de, etc. Is this correct?
If so, would it be possible for you to extend it by including our domains (finder.com.au, finder.com, creditcard.com.au) or solve it in a better way?
I believe this aligns with EasyList's policies and user expectations.
Thank you in advance.

My PR is merged, and the issue is fixed. Thank you!
The topic can be closed now.