It's always fascinating to me to read these horror stories about modern websites because I've disbabled JS and see almost none of this crap. I don't understand how these website still get...
It's always fascinating to me to read these horror stories about modern websites because I've disbabled JS and see almost none of this crap. I don't understand how these website still get visitors. If a barkeeper would punch everyone in the face if they orders a drink, he would be out of a job very quickly, even if the drinks were free. But somehow websites can do whatever they want and users are ok with it.
First, I'm fascinated that you're able to use the web with JS disabled. But to your point, basically nobody outside of highly technical users has any idea that any of this is going on. On the...
First, I'm fascinated that you're able to use the web with JS disabled.
But to your point, basically nobody outside of highly technical users has any idea that any of this is going on.
On the bright side, a good ad blocker can prevent nearly all of this crap.
To be honest, I run with ad blockers installed myself so I also do not see most of this garbage. Between Facebook Container, uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, and DuckDuckGo Essentials pretty much...
To be honest, I run with ad blockers installed myself so I also do not see most of this garbage. Between Facebook Container, uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, and DuckDuckGo Essentials pretty much everything malicious is blocked enough that I don’t meaningfully interact with most of it.
The original premise was that Google wasn't doing a good job keeping out malware. Now the reason I keep it that heavily locked down is because modern ads are like cancer. YouTube on my iPhone...
The original premise was that Google wasn't doing a good job keeping out malware. Now the reason I keep it that heavily locked down is because modern ads are like cancer. YouTube on my iPhone still allows ads and they're just godawful. Cryptoscam bullshit and nothing but scams scams scams. It's horrible.
YouTube in Firefox on mobile with unlock origin has thus far been enough to block ads on YouTube.probably some features that the app has tha I can't use, but for just watching it works flawlessly...
YouTube in Firefox on mobile with unlock origin has thus far been enough to block ads on YouTube.probably some features that the app has tha I can't use, but for just watching it works flawlessly for me.
I’m in iPhone land where Firefox is basically a reskin of Safari and thus does not block ads because they can’t do plugins due to some kind of proprietary thing from Apple. Opera is the best...
I’m in iPhone land where Firefox is basically a reskin of Safari and thus does not block ads because they can’t do plugins due to some kind of proprietary thing from Apple. Opera is the best ad-blocking browser for iPhone from my experience.
I use NoScript on my desktop, set to forbid all JS. I can whitelist domains, both temporarily for that visit or permanently. I can also just disable it on a tab for sensitive work like govt sites...
I use NoScript on my desktop, set to forbid all JS. I can whitelist domains, both temporarily for that visit or permanently. I can also just disable it on a tab for sensitive work like govt sites and forms.
Many pages I'll need to trust a domain, usually the main host and sometimes a CDN, then refresh and get the fully working website without another dozen domains loading whatever they want. I wouldn't recommend it for most folks, but for me, I consider it making websites more usable and friendly.
I do also use ublock origin, it does a lot of good, just not as aggressive about certain elements, like auto play videos for instance -- I'd rather not load those at all.
I'm similarly bemused by reports like your own of people using the web without JS in 2026. Unless you've restricted yourself to visiting a very small curated set of sites I've got to imagine...
I'm similarly bemused by reports like your own of people using the web without JS in 2026. Unless you've restricted yourself to visiting a very small curated set of sites I've got to imagine that's more frustrating than liberating overall.
I mean, I think you and I are probably in agreement for the most part... I use Firefox's advanced tracking protection in strict mode, and uBlock Origin + Decentraleyes + CanvasBlocker + Bypass Paywalls Clean, and an always-on VPN. I am 100% on board with controlling your own device, protecting your privacy, yada yada. But JavaScript drives the web today, adding a ton of value and frankly I can't imagine the web is even viable without it. Turning it off entirely feels like going vegan but refusing to eat beans.
I've only really used uBlock Origin, do you find the additional Firefox add-ons you mentioned make a difference? I had Privacy Badger and Facebook Container installed for some time but I didn't...
I've only really used uBlock Origin, do you find the additional Firefox add-ons you mentioned make a difference? I had Privacy Badger and Facebook Container installed for some time but I didn't notice a massive difference. I had NoScript for a while but it basically broke every website and I had to disable it so much it wasn't really doing anything any more. And use NordVPN in the browser. I'm guessing the "difference" is something that happens in the background instead of something you notice though. I'm rambling, I guess my question is: how did you land on your current stack "uBlock Origin + Decentraleyes + CanvasBlocker + Bypass Paywalls Clean"?
Honestly, with uBlock Origin you already cover a lot. A lot of the other things exist somewhere on a spectrum where context matters a lot. VPNs are a great example, certainly with a lot of the VPN...
Honestly, with uBlock Origin you already cover a lot. A lot of the other things exist somewhere on a spectrum where context matters a lot. VPNs are a great example, certainly with a lot of the VPN providers you are for the most part adding latency to your experience and effectively a second ISP. In some cases it even makes your fingerprint more unique since a lot of the IP ranges used by VPN providers are known. It also entirely depends on the country you are in, how much you do trust your ISP, etc, etc.
A tool like DecentralEyes does make some sense, but requires the extension to be kept uptodate. Which to my knowledge is no longer done. There is a fork called LocalCDN that is still actively maintained. Again, it makes some sense. A request to a CDN will still be done the first time you require a library, but after that the CDN can't track you across other websites that use the same library.
At the point where you really no longer have a unique fingerprint you end up with a browsing experience I'd personally hate to be honest. With a lot of steps in between you might actually make yourself more unique as your browser effectively starts to act out of place.
Yeah this aligns more with my experience. I had CanvasBlocker, used Firefox's advanced tracking protection set to strict, and there were just oddities I would keep encountering of things that...
At the point where you really no longer have a unique fingerprint you end up with a browsing experience I'd personally hate to be honest. With a lot of steps in between you might actually make yourself more unique as your browser effectively starts to act out of place.
Yeah this aligns more with my experience. I had CanvasBlocker, used Firefox's advanced tracking protection set to strict, and there were just oddities I would keep encountering of things that didn't work right or as expected. I ended up giving it up as it just wasn't worth the headaches.
I considered using Mullvad browser but it doesn't come with the password manager I use as a default (Bitwarden) and they do seem to advise that installing other extensions kind of defeats the purpose of using it since every extension you add makes it more unique and identifiable. I don't know if just adding Bitwarden would make it fully unique, I didn't try it.
I use Privacy Badger as entropy for my internet use. It breaks half the sites I visit, and frankly, they're time wasting sites anyway. PB just gets me off of them faster!
I use Privacy Badger as entropy for my internet use. It breaks half the sites I visit, and frankly, they're time wasting sites anyway. PB just gets me off of them faster!
People have been telling me that it's not viable to disable Javascript in <current year> for decades. Probably since Javascript was introduced. And yet, many websites, especially articles, only...
People have been telling me that it's not viable to disable Javascript in <current year> for decades. Probably since Javascript was introduced. And yet, many websites, especially articles, only become usable once you turn JS off. Yes, the functionality is often severely reduced, but if you only want to read the article and not login, share on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter, that's not an issue.
And for shopping, banking, Tildes, etc, I can enable Javascript selectively with uBlock Origin or NoScript to enable only the features I need.
Some website load code from so many domains that this is approach is too tedious, but in my experience, those websites are garbage with or without JS, so I just don't use them.
(BTW, I'm actually mostly vegan and I rarely eat beans.)
I don't find it that bad personally, but I've curated 8(ish?) years of custom filters in μBlock Origin now so I don't often have to correct my default js off posture I don't bother on my phone...
I don't find it that bad personally, but I've curated 8(ish?) years of custom filters in μBlock Origin now so I don't often have to correct my default js off posture
I don't bother on my phone (cromite) as it's a MASSIVE hassle to fix, but I find it quite rapid to rectify on Firefox (or maybe I've stockholmed myself and just ingrained it into muscle memory).
I think it also helps if you use a feed reader to avoid ever opening news sites directly — frankly the only problematic sites I find are usually payment processors & my governments websites sometimes (its 50:50 by site whether its immaculate and functions even without js or i just need to disable almost all of the adblock to load it...)
My favorite uBlock custom filter is the one that blocks those dumb "sign in with Google" popups on the top right of every site. I also switched to Firefox browser on my phone when I learned you...
My favorite uBlock custom filter is the one that blocks those dumb "sign in with Google" popups on the top right of every site. I also switched to Firefox browser on my phone when I learned you could get add-ons to the phone browser, I had no idea you could do that for a long time.
Going without JS entirely requires too much manual work for me, but I do keep uBlock Origin in medium mode—blocks all third-party scripts and frames unless whitelisted, along with applying the...
Going without JS entirely requires too much manual work for me, but I do keep uBlock Origin in medium mode—blocks all third-party scripts and frames unless whitelisted, along with applying the usual filter rules—and the web is a whole lot more useable that way. Posts like this article reinforce that this is DEFINITELY the right call, that's insane.
(I imagine using uBO in normal mode would still work pretty well, but the extra upkeep medium requires is small enough that I don't mind doing it in exchange for the stronger guarantees.)
It's always fascinating to me to read these horror stories about modern websites because I've disbabled JS and see almost none of this crap. I don't understand how these website still get visitors. If a barkeeper would punch everyone in the face if they orders a drink, he would be out of a job very quickly, even if the drinks were free. But somehow websites can do whatever they want and users are ok with it.
First, I'm fascinated that you're able to use the web with JS disabled.
But to your point, basically nobody outside of highly technical users has any idea that any of this is going on.
On the bright side, a good ad blocker can prevent nearly all of this crap.
To be honest, I run with ad blockers installed myself so I also do not see most of this garbage. Between Facebook Container, uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, and DuckDuckGo Essentials pretty much everything malicious is blocked enough that I don’t meaningfully interact with most of it.
Your list sounds like my protection recipe. It's unreal looking at the unblocked internet these days.
Filthy, it is. Truly filthy.
The original premise was that Google wasn't doing a good job keeping out malware. Now the reason I keep it that heavily locked down is because modern ads are like cancer. YouTube on my iPhone still allows ads and they're just godawful. Cryptoscam bullshit and nothing but scams scams scams. It's horrible.
YouTube in Firefox on mobile with unlock origin has thus far been enough to block ads on YouTube.probably some features that the app has tha I can't use, but for just watching it works flawlessly for me.
I’m in iPhone land where Firefox is basically a reskin of Safari and thus does not block ads because they can’t do plugins due to some kind of proprietary thing from Apple. Opera is the best ad-blocking browser for iPhone from my experience.
Brave blocks ads well, and safari now has ublock light as well as vinegar to turn videos in to html videos.
Wasn't aware of Vinegar. $2 isn't bad.
Somebody here enlightened me to the fact that Vanced tube is still alive and well, and if you're on Android, it can be sideloaded. I'd recommend it.
I use NoScript on my desktop, set to forbid all JS. I can whitelist domains, both temporarily for that visit or permanently. I can also just disable it on a tab for sensitive work like govt sites and forms.
Many pages I'll need to trust a domain, usually the main host and sometimes a CDN, then refresh and get the fully working website without another dozen domains loading whatever they want. I wouldn't recommend it for most folks, but for me, I consider it making websites more usable and friendly.
I do also use ublock origin, it does a lot of good, just not as aggressive about certain elements, like auto play videos for instance -- I'd rather not load those at all.
Why use both NoScript and uBlock Origin? uBO already includes all functionality of noscript
I've had NoScript longer, it's straightforward whereas I can't make heads or tails of ublock's UI.
I'm similarly bemused by reports like your own of people using the web without JS in 2026. Unless you've restricted yourself to visiting a very small curated set of sites I've got to imagine that's more frustrating than liberating overall.
I mean, I think you and I are probably in agreement for the most part... I use Firefox's advanced tracking protection in strict mode, and uBlock Origin + Decentraleyes + CanvasBlocker + Bypass Paywalls Clean, and an always-on VPN. I am 100% on board with controlling your own device, protecting your privacy, yada yada. But JavaScript drives the web today, adding a ton of value and frankly I can't imagine the web is even viable without it. Turning it off entirely feels like going vegan but refusing to eat beans.
I've only really used uBlock Origin, do you find the additional Firefox add-ons you mentioned make a difference? I had Privacy Badger and Facebook Container installed for some time but I didn't notice a massive difference. I had NoScript for a while but it basically broke every website and I had to disable it so much it wasn't really doing anything any more. And use NordVPN in the browser. I'm guessing the "difference" is something that happens in the background instead of something you notice though. I'm rambling, I guess my question is: how did you land on your current stack "uBlock Origin + Decentraleyes + CanvasBlocker + Bypass Paywalls Clean"?
Honestly, with uBlock Origin you already cover a lot. A lot of the other things exist somewhere on a spectrum where context matters a lot. VPNs are a great example, certainly with a lot of the VPN providers you are for the most part adding latency to your experience and effectively a second ISP. In some cases it even makes your fingerprint more unique since a lot of the IP ranges used by VPN providers are known. It also entirely depends on the country you are in, how much you do trust your ISP, etc, etc.
A tool like DecentralEyes does make some sense, but requires the extension to be kept uptodate. Which to my knowledge is no longer done. There is a fork called LocalCDN that is still actively maintained. Again, it makes some sense. A request to a CDN will still be done the first time you require a library, but after that the CDN can't track you across other websites that use the same library.
CanvasBlocker might help a little bit in combating fingerprinting, but fingerprinting is a complex issue to begin with.
At the point where you really no longer have a unique fingerprint you end up with a browsing experience I'd personally hate to be honest. With a lot of steps in between you might actually make yourself more unique as your browser effectively starts to act out of place.
Yeah this aligns more with my experience. I had CanvasBlocker, used Firefox's advanced tracking protection set to strict, and there were just oddities I would keep encountering of things that didn't work right or as expected. I ended up giving it up as it just wasn't worth the headaches.
I considered using Mullvad browser but it doesn't come with the password manager I use as a default (Bitwarden) and they do seem to advise that installing other extensions kind of defeats the purpose of using it since every extension you add makes it more unique and identifiable. I don't know if just adding Bitwarden would make it fully unique, I didn't try it.
I use Privacy Badger as entropy for my internet use. It breaks half the sites I visit, and frankly, they're time wasting sites anyway. PB just gets me off of them faster!
People have been telling me that it's not viable to disable Javascript in <current year> for decades. Probably since Javascript was introduced. And yet, many websites, especially articles, only become usable once you turn JS off. Yes, the functionality is often severely reduced, but if you only want to read the article and not login, share on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter, that's not an issue.
And for shopping, banking, Tildes, etc, I can enable Javascript selectively with uBlock Origin or NoScript to enable only the features I need.
Some website load code from so many domains that this is approach is too tedious, but in my experience, those websites are garbage with or without JS, so I just don't use them.
(BTW, I'm actually mostly vegan and I rarely eat beans.)
I don't find it that bad personally, but I've curated 8(ish?) years of custom filters in μBlock Origin now so I don't often have to correct my default js off posture
I don't bother on my phone (cromite) as it's a MASSIVE hassle to fix, but I find it quite rapid to rectify on Firefox (or maybe I've stockholmed myself and just ingrained it into muscle memory).
I think it also helps if you use a feed reader to avoid ever opening news sites directly — frankly the only problematic sites I find are usually payment processors & my governments websites sometimes (its 50:50 by site whether its immaculate and functions even without js or i just need to disable almost all of the adblock to load it...)
My favorite uBlock custom filter is the one that blocks those dumb "sign in with Google" popups on the top right of every site. I also switched to Firefox browser on my phone when I learned you could get add-ons to the phone browser, I had no idea you could do that for a long time.
Going without JS entirely requires too much manual work for me, but I do keep uBlock Origin in medium mode—blocks all third-party scripts and frames unless whitelisted, along with applying the usual filter rules—and the web is a whole lot more useable that way. Posts like this article reinforce that this is DEFINITELY the right call, that's insane.
(I imagine using uBO in normal mode would still work pretty well, but the extra upkeep medium requires is small enough that I don't mind doing it in exchange for the stronger guarantees.)