Yeah, I’ve seen some of u-block origin’s list and it is…very extensive to say the least.

And of course a big thing I use an ad-blocker for is youtube. I play youtube videos while I’m doing stuff aroudn the house and not attending to the computer. If I didn’t have a blocker I’d be having ads thrown at me every five minutes, which is how it works on the youtube app on my phone.

I doubt the hostfile approach works for this.

On Sun, Oct 2, 2022 at 01:04 PM, JM Casey wrote:

I'm a little skeptical whether it's as effective as an ad-blocker, or else they woudlnt' be used by some of the very tech-savvy people I know who do use them.

-
Your skepticism is warranted.  These purpose-dedicated tools did not come into existence because the hosts file "can do it all."  Not to mention no end user is as likely to be able to keep up on all the hosts that need to be blocked as organizations dedicated to security and ad-blocking do.

There's more, a lot more, to ad blocking than the hosts file, and all you need to do is look at any one of the common subscription lists used by multiple ad-blockers to see just how much more.
--

Brian - Virginia, USA - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044  

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

    ~ H.L. Mencken, AKA The Sage of Baltimore

Thanks. I'm gonna try this.
James B
-----Original Message-----
From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of Gene Warner
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2022 7:16 PM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: From Edge to Firefox
I got around that problem by setting up a filter in GMail that says that
anything from groups.io is not spam.
Specifically the filter reads:
If from contains groups.io never send it to spam.
Gene...
On 10/2/2022 6:59 PM, Brian Vogel wrote:

On Sun, Oct 2, 2022 at 06:38 PM, JM Casey wrote:

It seems like half the time when people send me private messages
from these lists, they don’t receive my responses for some reason,
even though I’m apparently replying directly to them.

-
Well, you are and you aren't. Groups.io is serving as a Relay. Even my
own private messages, when I BCC myself, come with a caution warning
from Gmail. In the case of yours, it ended up in the Spam folder.

It does make sense to make occasional checks of one's Spam folder as
things do occasionally get misclassified. It happens very seldom for me
under Gmail, but when it does I make certain to activate the "Not Spam"
button so their filters can learn.
--

Brian - Virginia, USA- Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044

*/Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy./*

~ H.L. Mencken, AKA /The Sage of Baltimore/

On Sun, Oct 2, 2022 at 06:38 PM, JM Casey wrote:

It seems like half the time when people send me private messages
from these lists, they don’t receive my responses for some reason,
even though I’m apparently replying directly to them.

-
Well, you are and you aren't. Groups.io is serving as a Relay. Even my
own private messages, when I BCC myself, come with a caution warning
from Gmail. In the case of yours, it ended up in the Spam folder.

It does make sense to make occasional checks of one's Spam folder as
things do occasionally get misclassified. It happens very seldom for me
under Gmail, but when it does I make certain to activate the "Not Spam"
button so their filters can learn.
--

Brian - Virginia, USA- Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044

*/Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy./*

~ H.L. Mencken, AKA /The Sage of Baltimore/

On Sun, Oct 2, 2022 at 06:38 PM, JM Casey wrote:
It seems like half the time when people send me private messages
from these lists, they don’t receive my responses for some reason,
even though I’m apparently replying directly to them.
-
Well, you are and you aren't.  Groups.io is serving as a Relay.  Even my own private messages, when I BCC myself, come with a caution warning from Gmail.  In the case of yours, it ended up in the Spam folder.
It does make sense to make occasional checks of one's Spam folder as things do occasionally get misclassified.  It happens very seldom for me under Gmail, but when it does I make certain to activate the "Not Spam" button so their filters can learn.
--
Brian - Virginia, USA- Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044
*/Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy./*
    ~ H.L. Mencken, AKA /The Sage of Baltimore/

On Sun, Oct 2, 2022 at 04:48 PM, Bill White wrote:

Hi, Brian. I think this autoplay setting is a temporary setting if one is not signed into Gmail or Google with the browser in question, and becomes a permanent setting if one remains signed into Gmail or Google.

-
I can personally attest that this is (or was, at the time I last was "un-add-on-ed") not the case for me, and I absolutely am logged in to a Google Account (and a different one) on all of the browsers I use, whether Firefox, Edge, or Vivaldi.  Even Chrome on the odd occasion that I actually use it.

I won't rule out the possibility that there may have been changes that again make that slider choice persistent, but it was not, and not just for me, for a very long time.  I'll just keep the add-on and wanted folks to be aware of it.

The site for that add-on maintained by the developer of same:  https://add0n.com/stop-autoplay.html 
--

Brian - Virginia, USA - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044  

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

    ~ H.L. Mencken, AKA The Sage of Baltimore

Hi, Brian. I think this autoplay setting is a temporary setting if one is not signed into Gmail or Google with the browser in question, and becomes a permanent setting if one remains signed into Gmail or Google.
Bill White
billwhite92701@... <mailto:billwhite92701@...>
*From:*main@jfw.groups.io [mailto:main@jfw.groups.io] *On Behalf Of *Brian Vogel
*Sent:* Sunday, October 2, 2022 11:49 AM
*To:* main@jfw.groups.io
*Subject:* Re: From Edge to Firefox
On Sun, Oct 2, 2022 at 02:41 PM, JM Casey wrote:
youtube has an autoplay toggle button which I just turn off, so nothing happens after my videos finish.
-
But you have to do that each and every time.  At one time, this could be thrown and it would be a permanent choice, but no more.
All that the add-on does is restore that permanence behind the scenes so you don't need to constantly be toggling that toggle.  And it is universally applicable to every YouTube video you play over time.
--
Brian *- *Virginia, USA*- *Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044
/*/Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy./*/
    ~ H.L. Mencken, AKA //The Sage of Baltimore//

From: main@jfw.groups.io [mailto:main@jfw.groups.io] On Behalf Of Brian Vogel
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2022 11:49 AM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: From Edge to Firefox

On Sun, Oct 2, 2022 at 02:41 PM, JM Casey wrote:

youtube has an autoplay toggle button which I just turn off, so nothing happens after my videos finish.

-
But you have to do that each and every time.  At one time, this could be thrown and it would be a permanent choice, but no more.

All that the add-on does is restore that permanence behind the scenes so you don't need to constantly be toggling that toggle.  And it is universally applicable to every YouTube video you play over time.
--

Brian - Virginia, USA - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044  

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

    ~ H.L. Mencken, AKA The Sage of Baltimore

Well Gene. You have mentioned several times how much you like the Host File Approach. Any chance that you will tell the list how to accomplish this? Or, at least direct us to a web site that has an explanation and directions?

Regards,

James B

-----Original Message From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of Gene Warner
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2022 11:51 AM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: From Edge to Firefox

Just as everybody else who uses Chromium to build their browser adds
functionality to their browser that benefits them. I have no doubt that
Brave and Vivaldi are just as guilty of this as Google and Microsoft
are. I also have no doubt that the purveyors of ad blockers are just as
guilty too.

That is why I prefer the host file approach to ad blocking. It is
completely independent of any browser or ad blocker and works with any
browser without needing any ad blocking add ins.

Gene...


On 10/2/2022 12:41 PM, Brian Vogel wrote:

On Sun, Oct 2, 2022 at 12:04 PM, Gene Warner wrote:

I can understand why Google would want to prevent ad blockers from
working since advertising is where they get most of their income.

-
Which is certainly true, but Google does not tightly control Chromium,
per se, just Chrome, which is built on it.

While Chromium originated with Google, and they still are actively
involved in it, it is an open-source project. It would be considered
completely unacceptable by all the other users of the Chromium code base
were Google to try to insert its own advertising "needs" into that code.

I haven't used Chrome, proper, in years, preferring the privacy-focused
browsers that share the Chromium base such as Brave or Vivaldi, and
there are others. And the uBlock Origin adblocker (and it's way more
than just that) works beautifully in Chrome and Firefox both. There is
no way I can keep up with the appropriate things to block like the
developers of these ad blocking and privacy maintaining (to the extent
possible) products do.
--

Brian - Virginia, USA- Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044

*/Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy./*

~ H.L. Mencken, AKA /The Sage of Baltimore/

On Sun, Oct 2, 2022 at 02:41 PM, JM Casey wrote:

youtube has an autoplay toggle button which I just turn off, so nothing happens after my videos finish.

-
But you have to do that each and every time.  At one time, this could be thrown and it would be a permanent choice, but no more.

All that the add-on does is restore that permanence behind the scenes so you don't need to constantly be toggling that toggle.  And it is universally applicable to every YouTube video you play over time.
--

Brian - Virginia, USA - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044  

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

    ~ H.L. Mencken, AKA The Sage of Baltimore

On Sun, Oct 2, 2022 at 02:41 PM, JM Casey wrote:

youtube has an autoplay toggle button which I just turn off, so nothing happens after my videos finish.

-
But you have to do that each and every time.  At one time, this could be thrown and it would be a permanent choice, but no more.

All that the add-on does is restore that permanence behind the scenes so you don't need to constantly be toggling that toggle.  And it is universally applicable to every YouTube video you play over time.
--

Brian - Virginia, USA - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044  

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

    ~ H.L. Mencken, AKA The Sage of Baltimore

youtube has an autoplay toggle button which I just turn off, so nothing happens after my videos finish.

Brian - Virginia, USA - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044  

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

    ~ H.L. Mencken, AKA The Sage of Baltimore

On Sun, Oct 2, 2022 at 01:58 PM, JM Casey wrote:

I play youtube videos while I’m doing stuff aroudn the house and not attending to the computer.

-
As an aside, you may want to consider the Stop AutoPlay Next for YouTube add-on/extension.  It does exactly what it says.

I never want YouTube to keep advancing from the video I'm actually interested in, and am playing, to the next and next and next random one it chooses for me after the one that interested me is done.
--

Brian - Virginia, USA - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044  

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

    ~ H.L. Mencken, AKA The Sage of Baltimore

Extended support release I believe that stands for.
It does not break accessibility with browser updates.
Glenn
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gene Warner" <genewarner3@...>
To: <main@jfw.groups.io>
Sent: Sunday, October 02, 2022 1:05 PM
Subject: Re: From Edge to Firefox
ESR?
Gene...
On 10/2/2022 1:40 PM, Glenn / Lenny wrote:

I use the ESR version, and sometimes FF crashes.
Amazon.com is the worse pages for FF, I sometimes clear the history in FF,
and that helps speed it up, but not for long.
Glenn
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Covici" <covici@...>
To: <main@jfw.groups.io>
Sent: Sunday, October 02, 2022 11:25 AM
Subject: Re: From Edge to Firefox


Be careful, I have been using firefox for a while, and at least on my
system, Jaws tends to freeze up quite a lot and there are other
accessibility problems. Its a very nice browser, but Jaws does not
always get along.

On Sun, 02 Oct 2022 12:15:38 -0400,
JM Casey wrote:

Oh, I'm sure that is google's motivation. But I’m not on the internet to
please google -- only for my own benefit. And many people are very
displeased about this new Google plan.
What's that approach you mean?


-----Original Message-----
From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of Gene Warner
Sent: October 2, 2022 12:04 PM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: From Edge to Firefox

I can understand why Google would want to prevent ad blockers from
working
since advertising is where they get most of their income.

I guess I'm patient because even if Firefox is slower than Chromium based
browsers, I'm not worried or concerned about it.

And for blocking ads, I use an approach to blocking ads that doesn't
depend on an add on and works for any browser I choose to use without
needing me to do anything with the browser.

Gene...


On 10/2/2022 11:48 AM, JM Casey wrote:

Hey.
I haven't really been inconvenienced by the problems you mentioned using
Chrome. However, I would like to ween myself away from it, given the
thing I mentioned earlier -- I don't know what I'd do without my
ad-blocker and the fact that google is trying to break them is really
irksome. Also, all other Chromium-based browsers will eventually
probably have to switch to manifest 3 for extensions too, and then, you
can say goodbye to the proper functionality of your ad-blocker. Brave
might be an exception, but I have some misgivings about that one, too --
might consider using it a little more in the coming year though.
I still find Firefox to be a bit slow, and this is unfortunate. It just
doesn't seem as responsive on my system as chrome does.
I also have Vivaldi, which is Chromium-based, and which I'd really love
to use more, but it has some quirks which mean I haven't figured out how
to best make use of it with a screen-reader. Its days of full
add-blocker functionality are, of course, also numbered.


-----Original Message-----
From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of Gene Warner
Sent: October 2, 2022 11:32 AM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: From Edge to Firefox

You could be right there, the Chromium engine seems to be gathering a
number of problems with screen readers that don't seem to be getting any
attention. Problems like the screen reader suddenly losing its focus on
the browser, or the cursor suddenly jumping to the beginning or the end
of the page just to name two of them.

I have the documentation files already, maybe I'll just decide to start
a list for visually impaired Firefox users myself.

I'm already on the Tech Talk list so I'll try there for now, but a list
for visually impaired Firefox users seems like a very appealing idea.

Gene...


On 10/2/2022 11:18 AM, JM Casey wrote:

Hey Gene.
I don't know of such a list, nor, indeed, many mailing lists of this
specific nature. You could always post to BlindTech, or even this list,
probably, as subjects that are not altogether directly related to
screen-readers seem more OK here than on the nVDA main list, for
instance. I think Mozilla also has a forum of some kind on their
website. Not sure how many visually impaired users there would be
there, but you could still consider it a helpful resource.

I think we will see a massive influx of Firefox users starting next
year, as Chrome is moving to manifest 3 and will be preventing things
like ad-blockers from properly doing their jobs. So maybe the creation
of such a list as you are asking for is not far off on the horizon.

-----Original Message-----
From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of Gene
Warner
Sent: October 2, 2022 09:46 AM
To: JAWS support list <main@jfw.groups.io>
Subject: From Edge to Firefox

Because of all the strange behaviors that Chromium based browsers are
showing with JAWS I have decided to switch to Firefox. There is a
support list for visually impaired users of Thunderbird, but there
doesn't appear to be a similar list for Firefox. So can anyone suggest
an appropriate list where I can get any help I might need while making
the transition?

Thanks!
Gene...

Yeah, I’ve seen some of u-block origin’s list and it is…very extensive to say the least.
And of course a big thing I use an ad-blocker for is youtube. I play youtube videos while I’m doing stuff aroudn the house and not attending to the computer. If I didn’t have a blocker I’d be having ads thrown at me every five minutes, which is how it works on the youtube app on my phone.
I doubt the hostfile approach works for this.
*From:*main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> *On Behalf Of *Brian Vogel
*Sent:* October 2, 2022 01:49 PM
*To:* main@jfw.groups.io
*Subject:* Re: From Edge to Firefox
On Sun, Oct 2, 2022 at 01:04 PM, JM Casey wrote:
I'm a little skeptical whether it's as effective as an ad-blocker,
or else they woudlnt' be used by some of the very tech-savvy people
I know who do use them.
-
Your skepticism is warranted.  These purpose-dedicated tools did not come into existence because the hosts file "can do it all."  Not to mention no end user is as likely to be able to keep up on all the hosts that need to be blocked as organizations dedicated to security and ad-blocking do.
There's more, a lot more, to ad blocking than the hosts file, and all you need to do is look at any one of the common subscription lists used by multiple ad-blockers to see just how much more.
--
Brian *- *Virginia, USA*- *Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044
/*Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.*/
    ~ H.L. Mencken, AKA /The Sage of Baltimore/

Well Gene. You have mentioned several times how much you like the Host File Approach. Any chance that you will tell the list how to accomplish this? Or, at least direct us to a web site that has an explanation and directions?
Regards,
James B
-----Original Message From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of Gene Warner
Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2022 11:51 AM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: From Edge to Firefox
Just as everybody else who uses Chromium to build their browser adds
functionality to their browser that benefits them. I have no doubt that
Brave and Vivaldi are just as guilty of this as Google and Microsoft
are. I also have no doubt that the purveyors of ad blockers are just as
guilty too.
That is why I prefer the host file approach to ad blocking. It is
completely independent of any browser or ad blocker and works with any
browser without needing any ad blocking add ins.
Gene...
On 10/2/2022 12:41 PM, Brian Vogel wrote:

On Sun, Oct 2, 2022 at 12:04 PM, Gene Warner wrote:

I can understand why Google would want to prevent ad blockers from
working since advertising is where they get most of their income.

-
Which is certainly true, but Google does not tightly control Chromium,
per se, just Chrome, which is built on it.

While Chromium originated with Google, and they still are actively
involved in it, it is an open-source project. It would be considered
completely unacceptable by all the other users of the Chromium code base
were Google to try to insert its own advertising "needs" into that code.

I haven't used Chrome, proper, in years, preferring the privacy-focused
browsers that share the Chromium base such as Brave or Vivaldi, and
there are others. And the uBlock Origin adblocker (and it's way more
than just that) works beautifully in Chrome and Firefox both. There is
no way I can keep up with the appropriate things to block like the
developers of these ad blocking and privacy maintaining (to the extent
possible) products do.
--

Brian - Virginia, USA- Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044

*/Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy./*

~ H.L. Mencken, AKA /The Sage of Baltimore/