The Adblock Project

Eddie · Guest

)

On that note.. could you please please please implement whitelisting?
I read in the FAQ that it has been given the infamous "soon" timescale - can anyone tell me a little bit more?

Cheers then!

Eddie

kstahl · Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 Post subject:

Gecko/20051111 Firefox/1.5

JPWhite · Guest

Beat me to it kstahl!! Smile

Eddie, to be able to figure out this stuff for yourself, it is very useful to use a software tool caled Regex Coach.

See [url] http://weitz.de/files/regex-coach.exe [/url] for windows or

[url] http://weitz.de/files/regex-coach.tgz [/url] for Linux

This software tool allows you to see what part of the target string is triggering the regular expression and you ca step through the expressionevaluation to see which parts of the expresion trigger what.

JP

Eddie · Guest

Thanks for that guys!

Eddie

Teknorat · Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 8

Is there a way to block the ads in Gmail?

Guest · Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2004 Post subject:

thanks guys ..

kstahl · Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2004 Post subject:

guestagain · Guest

dzm · Guest

kstahl · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 Post subject:

From what I can tell the ads are not loaded from an external source, there is no URL that Adblock can block.

They are created by an inline script, and incorporated directly into the HTML, much like the ads you get when searching with Google.

They don't have their own iFrame either, from what I can tell.

But if you find a way to block them, please tell us.
_________________
Adblock 0.5.3.042
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1. Cool

Gecko/20051111 Firefox/1.5

Eddie · Guest

Sorry to bump this old topic up - but there is a way to block GMail ads.

Take a look here:
http://www.gmailforums.com/index.php?showtopic=1375&st=0

Eddie

Guest · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2004 Post subject:

The blocking suggestion on gmailforums.com doesn't work (I suspect Google has change the CSS tag being used).

This added to chrome/userContent.css will block the text of the ads:

tr[class="metatable cad"]{
display: none !important;
}

The content will still be downloaded by the browser, but it will not be displayed.

Guest · Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 Post subject:

I tried bloacking the text ads in gmail multiple times using adblock using diffeent filters, but either it wouldnd't block them, or gmail wouldn't load or mozilla would have a shitload of exception errors and close. Googles gmail javascript system is very complex and i am not going to spend a week looking through their code to block some ads i barely notice.

rue · Developer Joined: 22 Oct 2003 Posts: 752

Guest:
You don't need to spend a week looking -- I've done it for you.
.
Gmail's system uses script-writes to create "layers", which their virtual-links then hide and reveal as needed. For the ads, a function named CV_SendAdRequest() manually creates an http-stream and dumps the output to a pre-determined "ad element". If you replace the function, the ads stop.
.
I've rolled replacement into the upcoming release of Window-Q; Adblock v.6 will have its own methods.
.
What's more interesting is what happens when you replace the Gmail debug-function, DB_WriteDebugMsg() (which is normally disabled), with one that logs all messages to console. You get to see everything Gmail does. Behind the scenes, there's a spy function, DB_SendJSReport() which reports back freqently what you've been up to. This is likely how ads are trained for relevance.. at the expense of your privacy. Slow, but certain validation for sites like this.stuff was here. (self-moderated)

kstahl · Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 Post subject:

Didn't we already know that all our mails were going to be scanned when we signed up for Gmail? It is, as you say, the way Google can offer us those "relevant" ads.

In fact, I assume all mails will be scanned at least three times. First by the anti-virus I hope they are employing, next by the spam filter, and lastly by the ad service.

*shrug*
_________________
Adblock 0.5.3.042
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1. Cool

Gecko/20051111 Firefox/1.5

rue · Developer Joined: 22 Oct 2003 Posts: 752

kstahl:
Gmail logs detailed activity -- how long you pause here or there, where your mouse moves, and what stuff you click. There was a company back in the 90's that specialized in determining what parts of a web-page interested readers most by running propietary algorithms on.. exactly that information.
.
Personally, I prefer a private party with no oversight not profile me in that way.we love google. (redux)

bene · Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 123 Location: Home, I think

More as a response to the thread over at the gmail forum, but also directed at my use of any beta software/service.

As a current gmail user, using the service during a beta period, I think it is my responsibility to attempt to take advantage of the service (blocking ads, the likes) as much as possible.

However, this is coupled with the responsibility of letting someone in their organization know how I've managed (and I haven't managed yet) to bypass their technology.

That's the beta relationship, in my mind.

/bene.