Hot Take Let's Block It! - A companion to the great uBlock Origin content blocker

[rashmi]

Let's Block It!

Remove low-quality content and useless nags, focus on what matters. Make the web yours again with this collection of community-owned content filters.

A companion to the great uBlock Origin content blocker.

Website: Let's Block It!


It's Open-source

The filter corpus and the server code are licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

This official instance is the simplest way to get started, but you can also self-host the server or use the offline render CLI if you prefer.

GitHub: GitHub - letsblockit/letsblockit: Remove low-quality content and useless nags, focus on what matters. A community-maintained uBlock Origin filter set.


Where do I start?

You can use our filters without an account, just set your options and copy the result in your uBlock Origin settings (in the My rules tab). But we recommend creating an account to:

• benefit from the community fixes when the target websites are updated
• sync your filters on several devices

It’s as easy as 1-2-3… and 4:

1. Install uBlock Origin if you don’t already have it,
2. Create an account to start your list,
3. Browse the filter list, choose and customize your filters,
4. Add your personal list to uBlock, on all your browsers, even Firefox Mobile,
5. Give back by contributing new filters if you can!


Filter by tag:

aliexpress
amazon
australia
bing
brave
custom
duckduckgo
fandom
github
google
hackernews
kagi
linkedin
linuxfr
nebula
searx
soundcloud
startpage
woolworths
youtube

My experience:

Let's Block It! provides filters for uBlock Origin, which you can copy in the "My rules" section of UO or create your own personal filter list (.txt link), which you can import in the "Filter lists" section of UO. You need to create an account for a personal filter list. Currently, you cannot create multiple personal filter lists.

I'm using my personal filter list in uBlock Origin and in AdGuard on multiple devices:

Windows: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Vivaldi (uBlock Origin). Chrome and Edge (AdGuard Extension).
Android: Firefox (uBlock Origin). Chrome (AdGuard Premium).
iPad: Safari (AdGuard Premium).

The filters are effective and work well. My personal filter list includes YouTube filters and Google Search filters.

YouTube Music: interface cleanups:

Enabled: Hide promo for YouTube Premium
Enabled: Hide "Mixed for you"
Enabled: Hide "Recommended playlists"
Enabled: Hide playlists made by YouTube Music
Disabled: Hide "Related" tab next to the music video

YouTube: hide video recommendations

Disabled: Hide the related videos sidebar when watching a video
Disabled: Hide video suggestions on the homepage
Enabled: Hide video suggestions that obscure the end of the video
Enabled: Hide the video grid shown after a video ends
Enabled: Hide suggestions on playlist pages

YouTube: homepage interface cleanups

Enabled: Hide all sections on the homepage that doesn't contain videos. If this rule is enabled the other rules are not needed.
Disabled: Hide section called "New Posts" on the homepage

YouTube: left menu interface cleanups

Enabled: Hide heading called "You" in the sidebar on the homepage
Enabled: Hide section called "Explore" in the sidebar on the homepage
Enabled: Hide section called "More from YouTube" in the sidebar on the homepage

YouTube: video playback interface cleanups

Enabled: Hide the channel description box under videos and shorts
Enabled: Hide the hashtags above the video title
Enabled: Hide the text label of the dislike/share/download/report/save buttons
Enabled: Hide the copyright notice in the video description
Enabled: Removes channel information below the video description
Disabled: Hide the chapter timeline in the video description box
Enabled: Hides the section that says "follow the transcript" in the video description box
Enabled: Hide the live chat when viewing streams
Enabled: Hide the reaction bar in the live chat, which hovers over messages
Enabled: Don't enter / exit fullscreen on double-click
Enabled: Disable touchscreen swipe actions (switch tab, PIP mode...)
Disabled: Disable ambient mode
Enabled: Disable infinite srolling in YouTube Shorts
Enabled: Hide all comments below the video

YouTube: filter out Short
YouTube: filter out mixes and radios
YouTube: filter out upcoming videos and streams
YouTube: search interface cleanups

Google Search: interface cleanups

Enabled: Hide most rich-content results (images, stories, businesses...) in the web search
Enabled: Hide the "People also ask" contextual content
Enabled: Hide the "Related searches" bottom content
Enabled: Hide the "People also search for" popup shown when returning to results
Enabled: Hide instant answer and rich context result section in the search box
Enabled: Block the "Trending searches" / "Related to recent searches" default autocomplete options
Enabled: Hide the "Similar searches" contextual content in image searches
Enabled: Hide the "Question and Answer" box in right hand pane
Enabled: Hide the "Reviews" box in right hand pane
Enabled: Hide the search page footer showing your address

There are more YouTube filters that I didn't include in my personal filter list. Here are those for your information.

YouTube: filter out videos by channel
YouTube: filter out videos by duration
YouTube: filter out videos by title
YouTube: filter out videos you already watched

 

[rashmi]

The website says, "You can use our filters without an account, just set your options and copy the result in your uBlock Origin settings (in the My rules tab)." It seems the information is incorrect, or I don't know how to do it because the My rules section doesn't have a copy function. I think the correct section is My filters because I can copy the filters in My filters and it works well.

 

[rashmi]

Let's Block It will cease operations at the end of June 2024.

Let's Block It!

Remove low-quality content and useless nags, focus on what matters. A community-maintained uBlock Origin filter set.

letsblock.it

Shutting down the letsblock.it project and its official instance

Two years after being published, the letsblock.it project is used by hundreds of users and ran thanks to dozens of contributors and financial sponsors who I am grateful for.

Unfortunately, we are fighting a losing battle in a commercial internet that is becoming more user-hostile everyday. I decided to move on and shut it down. This project is making the commercial web more bearable, but I’d rather spend my energy on making the non-commercial web more attractive. I want to support communities and applications that respect their users and value what we have to say. These websites don’t need letsblock.it rules, because they don’t shove low-quality content and anti-features down our throats.