Now age verification should be added to the list, especially if you want to browse 18+ sites like about how to pay taxes or learn to drive
this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2025
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Alternate version:
- You don't even bother going to a search engine because they're mostly terrible anymore
- You ask AI to search / parse the web site - bot reads the web site
- Site doesn't get any revenue because the site's so terrible, but you are supposed to feel bad
The open web has been in trouble for a while, and enshittification is just accelerating it.
Problem is that good sites, which do not do all the garbage listed above, do not get rewarded for that when being consumed through AI. And in that case you should in fact feel bad
Just posting here the always relevant reminder that Firefox still has real ad-blockers.
And you can also configure it to auto-decline requests for geolocation & push notifications.
And ofc NoScript. Solves like... 100% of the problems here.
But how many does it create? So many websites just break entirely if you block js.
Generally temp-whitelisting the base domain lets you move around the website while blocking all this garbage. Not always, unfortunately. I tend to nope out of websites that don't work after that unless I'm trying to shop for something, and then I just accept my fate if there's no alternative shop to turn to.
But how many does it create?
If you find some, share it, because I've had a total of 1 issue in a decade or so, and it was solved by closing the browser so it updates.
And then they sell you LLMs as the solution.
What about the step where you change VPN servers because cloudflare blocked the first one you used?
- (optional) Set up a pihole or pull something like stevenblacks hosts to your /etc/hosts
- Install a adblock browser extension
- Browse website
I've got that. It doesn't help with GDPR popups, notification requests, app pushes, etc.
If you enable the annoyances and cookie notices filters in uBlock it gets rid of a lot of them.
For specific sites you can also use the element picker mode to create your own custom filter and remove elements. Handy for sites you browse without an account and have popups bothering you about it.
There's extensions that get rid (/autoclick) of those banners. Eg "I (still) don't care about cookies"
Adblock as a concept has existed for 20+ years. No excuse to be so willfully ignorant of it.
My websites: no cookies, no tracking, a few KB of JS, rest is pure HTML and CSS. My sites load 10x faster. Meanwhile every other company is running some overly bloated WP. Its kinda of mind blowing how dumb some of these sites are.
WP is easy to use, that's why it's common.