EasyList Forum

Following IceDogg's suggestion, we decided to put together a list of possible filter rules that are suspected to cause lots of problems (false positives) and therefore need thorough testing before adding them to the main subscriptions.

Requirements/Warnings:
1. It's not only a possibility, we actually know that some rules in this list are going to break certain websites and block legitimate content, the only question is whether the amount of problems is manageable or not. If you can't handle that, this list is not for you.
2.You have to know how to disable/remove filter rules and subscriptions, and you should also know how to manually update subscriptions, how to open the blockable items list and how to send ABP issue reports (or alternatively how to provide the same information they do manually).
3. You should also be willing to report the problems you find as this is the only purpose of this list.
4. You have to use at least the latest stable versions of Firefox and Adblock Plus, preferable you would even use Adblock Plus development builds as we might try new filter syntax in this list without warning that could break legacy Adblock Plus versions.

EasyTest: [url=abp://subscribe/?location=https%3A%2F%2Feasylist-downloads.adblockplus.org%2Feasytest.txt&title=EasyTest%20(breaks%20websites)]Subscribe[/url] / View



Current tests:

Thanks so much!! I love this!! Got subscribed immediately

Is the update interval actually valid? I didn't detect any headers to force the setting, but is one hour really appropriate? I would recommend daily as a minimum, even for such a small user base.

Additionally, where should whitelists be located? In section separated by a comment?

I've stickied this topic regardless, as it is an important reference for the development of EasyList and EasyPrivacy.

Michael wrote:Is the update interval actually valid? I didn't detect any headers to force the setting, but is one hour really appropriate? I would recommend daily as a minimum, even for such a small user base.

Wladimir's "expire" header interferes anyway, so I have reset the interval to the one that is approximately how long Adblock Plus will take in reality to auto-update it for now.

Michael wrote:Additionally, where should whitelists be located? In section separated by a comment?

I would place them just beneath the rule they are required for to see at one glance how many whitelists are necessary for it. Generally, if this list ever gets so hard to read that it requires additional sections, it's a strong indication that this list has failed it's purpose (which is: being a very time-limited test environment with the sole purpose of determining the best ways to improve the main lists in the near future).

I have now altered the subscription link to use ares2.org (one of the mirrors) to reduce the update interval to 1 day, it seems like since the new update balancing algorithm has been introduced, you can't get any lower than that? Well, 1 day is at least better than 5, so please resubscribe.

Wladimir removed the headers for his servers now. This means that the value in the subscription (1 day) should work correctly - it translates to a random update interval between 0.8 and 1.2 days.

Just to let you know I am still testing this. I just haven't run into any more problems yet. I haven't been free of time lately to hit all the sites I visit. But I have hit the ones I visit the most. Will report back if I run into issues. Thanks for doing this.

I have added a filter for Google Analytics to the subscription as test number four (https://hg.adblockplus.org/easylist/rev/6b5ba4762762).

Though we've been using Google Analytics in the enhanced trackers list.. (and other problematic trackers) I have no doubt the simple ||google-analytics.com^$third-party will change.

I don't doubt that there will need to be exceptions, but the subscription at least provides an opportunity to evaluate the filter.

An URL where blocking google analytics is causing issues (and also isn't covered by fanboys comment)
http://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/download/index.html

I have added a whitelist for the item to EasyTest - this format makes it easier to see exactly which scripts are causing issues.

I think fanboy and easy team should merge the enhanced tracking and Easy Test. More Co-operation i guess... whaddya think fanboy and Michael ?

I would be quite willing to increase collaboration with Fanboy's List - a full merge has previously been considered by both parties but has ultimately fallen through. There are, unfortunately, a few practical issues to consider with regard to the suggestion that just Fanboy's Enhanced Tracking List and EasyTest could be merged. Where should the file be hosted? Who has ultimate authority over the subscription? Furthermore, EasyPrivacy and Fanboy's Tracking/Stats Blocking block different scripts in different methods. How should a filter be "tested" if it is already present in one of the primary subscriptions?

For now, only Easy Test and Fanboy's Enhanced Tracking could be merged ? Because both seem to experimental in that they both want to whitelist problematic domains and add the filters to enhance blocking.

At least from now, both teams can work together so there won't be duplication of efforts and wastage in bandwidth.

Maybe another stupid idea:
with the latest flash player it doesn't seem to matter anymore if object_subrequests are blocked. Sites that previously caused issues with videos not appearing, now work fine.
Maybe you could test this with EasyTest? Simply block all doubleclick object_subrequests too and see if it does or doesn't cause issues anywhere?

I just tested it with some sites and it didn't work for all of them. Some videos on sites may work from time to time if doubleclick is blocked completely.

vinny86 wrote:For now, only Easy Test and Fanboy's Enhanced Tracking could be merged ? Because both seem to experimental in that they both want to whitelist problematic domains and add the filters to enhance blocking.

There are still questions that would need to be answered just with regard to this potential merger:

Michael wrote:Where should the file be hosted? Who has ultimate authority over the subscription? Furthermore, EasyPrivacy and Fanboy's Tracking/Stats Blocking block different scripts in different methods. How should a filter be "tested" if it is already present in one of the primary subscriptions?

Besides, it's a conversation we can hardly have without Fanboy.

vinny86 wrote: At least from now, both teams can work together so there won't be duplication of efforts and wastage in bandwidth.

The duplication of effort and wastage of bandwidth is minimal - the main subscriptions are much more time consuming and widely used. EasyTest, for example, has around 33 users and required just 140 KB of bandwidth last month. While I would certainly be in favour of a full merger in principle, to only merge some resources could result in more effort than the proposal saves.

Popup blocking is now possible with the latest Adblock Plus 1.3.11a development build (Gecko only, not for Chrome): https://adblockplus.org/development-bui ... ng-support



It works both ways, either by filtering the popup url itself (standard fast rules), i.e. or by using an all-matching, domain restricted rule (which is practically a slow rule, but this one should be well worth it): I've added those rules to EasyTest:

https://hg.adblockplus.org/easylist/rev/32b2f617d620
https://hg.adblockplus.org/easylist/rev/607133aaad08
https://hg.adblockplus.org/easylist/rev/baf330827a72
https://hg.adblockplus.org/easylist/rev/6bc7232f8559

LOL ooops and I ask you too on ABP forums.. THanks!! Should have checked here first. I'm excited about this one big time!!!!

The test group "More ad[0-9] combos" has been moved to the main lists: https://hg.adblockplus.org/easylist/rev/26fce06ebda8

2 seemingly unproblematic Filters of the test group "Combining rules containing the string 'ads' to more general ones" have been moved to the main lists: https://hg.adblockplus.org/easylist/rev/15c29d1ac696

@Other authors: I would like to continue to slowly push those "ads" rules to the main lists as we are already testing them for 4 months and most didn't show any significant problems. I thought about 2 rules a week until all but the 4 most problematic ones are in. This would take 6 weeks. Any objections?

Ares2 wrote:Popup blocking is now possible with the latest Adblock Plus 1.3.11a development build (Firefox only)

That was probably a bit ambiguous on my part - it isn't "Firefox only" but rather "Gecko 1.9.2.6 and higher". I often mention Firefox version numbers because most people have no idea what Gecko versions mean.

My "Firefox only" was more like a quick (and inaccurate) shortcut for "only supported Gecko-based applications like Firefox, not Chrome". The last part was what I wanted to clarify, fixed above.

Yes, the Chrome development builds will now recognize the $popup option but actual pop-up blocking will stay restricted to Firefox for now.

Ares2 wrote:@Other authors: I would like to continue to slowly push those "ads" rules to the main lists as we are already testing them for 4 months and most didn't show any significant problems. I thought about 2 rules a week until all but the 4 most problematic ones are in. This would take 6 weeks. Any objections?

No.

Moved the next 2 "ads" rules to the main lists: https://hg.adblockplus.org/easylist/rev/7da844895190

I think we should move the popup blocking rules to the main lists so that the feature already works for our users when ABP 1.3.11 is released. Should we spread the "by popup url" rules accross our sections, e.g.

||ad2games.com^$popup,image,~image -> el_adservers
||adultfriendfinder.com/go/$popup,image,~image -> el_adult_3rd
||boerse.bz/toplist/vote/$popup,image,~image -> elg_specific_block
||multiupload.com/popunder/$popup,image,~image -> el_specific_block

...
or should we keep them all together?

Also: For the |http:$popup rule, adding one version of it to each corresponding section (= el_specific, el_adult_specific, elg_specific, eli_specific) means that we have 4 slow rules instead of one. Shouldn't be a huge deal, but deserves to be mentioned. (Maybe we should at least keep el_specific and el_adult_specific combined?)

I also think they can be move to the main list now and separated in our sections (the boerse.bz rule would be "elg_3rd" btw).

As for the |http:$popup rule: also to the corresponding section while el_specific and el_adult_specific should be together.

MonztA wrote:I also think they can be move to the main list now and separated in our sections (the boerse.bz rule would be "elg_3rd" btw).

OK. Should we put them into a subsection? I think it's best if you move those rules as you added most of them so you know what section they belong to.

MonztA wrote:As for the |http:$popup rule: also to the corresponding section while el_specific and el_adult_specific should be together.

Splitted that rule and moved it:
https://hg.adblockplus.org/easylist/rev/343c14f1c6d5
https://hg.adblockplus.org/easylistgerm ... c14913af8b
https://hg.adblockplus.org/easylistgerm ... 34a890db65