Discovered a new set of blocklists. Please add them to Blokada (Cloud). Even better: The ability to add blocklists manually. But I think in this case, other users might want to use them as well.
And a question: How often does Blokada Cloud update these lists? If something gets added or removed at 11 am, how long will it take until Blokada has it?
Blogpost:
All URLs with versions for uBlock, DNS etc:
Some sort of overview about the categories:
Hi,
Blokada Cloud already includes a fairly large set of blocklists that, in our experience, work well together. If you think the lists you discovered would provide a meaningful improvement, we’d be interested to hear why. For example, are they better at blocking a specific category of ads or trackers?
We update blocklists regularly, but not instantly when the original author makes a change. We process updates in batches to ensure stability and consistency across the service.
Currently, I have to use a combination of blocklists in order to block everything while also having to deal with some overblocking. Yesterday, I tried the /lists/ads/abp.txt locally (=disabling the DNS and everything in uBlock so only this list is active) and had no ads, except one site that is difficult to block in general. The other lists can do it, but it would be much easier to have this single list, than to deal with multiple lists, even if this new list could be a bit incomplete (regarding background stuff, I had no visible ads). Also, they have a portal to easily report things that should get blocked or removed. (Hence my question on how often you update these lists).
Yes, I now have a way to easliy test lists without having to disable the others (provided the lists Blokada offers have a version for uBlock, so I can disconnect the DNS and add it there). I could use that to test the current lists more easily. And I will do that. But I still think there is no reason why the new list should not get added, it works and would provide a new option. Or would it increase the work needed to update the lists, therefore you want to avoid adding too many lists if not necessary?
Regardless if you add the lists or not, I want to ask if you could allow for the ability to add and update lists manually, like PiHole. After all, we can already add individual sites, so why not entire lists? Then, every user can use any list without adding work for you. These lists should then get updated once per day (automatically), with the option to update them manually.
Regarding PiHole: I don’t want to use that, since I have no clue how I could host it (I have a Pi, but then it would only be active in my local network. I want to have it everywhere, just like Blokada Cloud or how any DNS works).
Thank you for testing things thoroughly and sharing your findings. We’ll test the list on our side and evaluate how it performs in terms of coverage, false positives, and overlap with our current lists. If it proves useful and there’s broader interest from the community, we’d definitely consider adding it as an option.
As for allowing users to add their own custom blocklists, we understand why advanced users would like this. In a cloud-based architecture, however, custom lists introduce additional complexity in terms of scaling, caching, and performance. Since this is a relatively niche use case compared to the overall user base, it has remained lower on our priority list. That said, it’s something we periodically revisit as the product evolves.
Sounds good! I hope you will find it useful. It appears to be a rather new list, but even if it doesn’t cover everything yet, you should still consider adding it. I am going to help maintaining it, and will add several rules. Maybe I will be able to add stuff this weekend, so the rules might get added next week.
Edit: Completely forgot to add that I am now going to use the list for a few days (since you consider to add it, if it works). I still have no ads except the one difficult site, and I am going to check that site on the weekend.
(No custom lists): I understand. Maybe you will find a good way to add it without adding too much workload onto the server.
Could you add an indicator on when the list(s) have been updated? For example, the website could directly take the date out of the list itself. Or a button to view the list that Blokada currently uses.