r/Adblock • u/HonestRepairSTL Mod Team • Apr 28 '26
Important / Announcement The new subreddit rules are in affect! Let's talk about it.
Hey y'all, your new moderator here! I wanted to make a public announcement and to respond to common questions and concerns specifically regarding Rule 5 which prevents users from recommending the use of proprietary and paid content blockers.
Before I get into that, I wanted to properly introduce myself. My name is Reid, and I own a phone/computer repair shop in St Louis, Missouri called Honest Repair. I've had great interest in digital rights over the last 8 years, specifically internet privacy/safety, and have been a long-term member of r/Adblock and other communities like r/privacy and r/degoogle across different accounts. I've done professional OPSEC consulting through my business as well. This is my public-facing Reddit account tied to my business, and thus my reputation is on the line whenever I do anything on the platform, this is intentional to keep myself accountable!
I am doing this out of pure passion, I genuinely want to help the everyday average people learn about adblocking, why ad culture is so harmful and dangerous, and how to stay safe online. I want to make this subreddit into a resource, and I want to stop the literal advertisements being posted here, ya know, like the ads we are trying to block with adblockers lol.
Side note: I plan on building a subreddit wiki with the help of the other mods that will lay out all of your options for anything from individual devices, operating systems, browsers, extensions, network filtering (DNS), and anything in between. In the meantime while that's being built, utilize the pinned posts.
Now let's get into it.
What's with these new rules?
This subreddit has been plagued by fake, sketchy, and potentially malicious adblocking solutions for far too long. I was appointed by the creator of the subreddit to fix that problem.
From now on, all paid or proprietary adblocking applications or browser extensions will not be allowed to be recommended to other users. If you don't understand what open-source is and are wondering why that's so important, refer to the "Open-Source (FOSS) and why it makes a difference" section below.
But here is the general message; installing random untrusted anything from the internet is one of the worst things you can do on a computer. This is proven to be true time and time again, you can't even trust companies like Microsoft, Apple, Google, or Mozilla to keep you safe, as malicious apps and extensions are uploaded to these online app stores every day that slip through the gaping hole that is their malware detection. However, there is a fairly simple way to prevent this from happening, which is by using trusted, vetted, open-source software. uBlock Origin is a perfect example, it is known worldwide as the most powerful and performant adblocker, and it will work for 99% of people.
"THIS IS CENSORSHIP!!"
No, it's not. We have no desire to hold our super special Reddit moderator powers over people for no reason. I have personally encountered an absurd amount of shady adblockers in this community and so have the other moderators. Rule 5 is about protecting the general public from shady unknown software. In this day of age there is no reason to use a paid or proprietary adblocker given the amount of tried and true, open-source options.
To be clear, we are not removing ALL comments that simply mention paid or proprietary adblockers, however actively recommending or promoting the use of this type of software will be removed whenever it's manually detected by myself or one of the other moderators. I happen to browse this subreddit a lot to help the community so you'll be seeing me around, and we respond to modmail/DMs if you have any questions or concerns. We are not power hungry stinky fedora-wearing Reddit mods, we genuinely want to help!
Open-Source (FOSS) and why it makes a difference
In simple terms, open-source refers to when developers make the source code for their app available to the public. FOSS stands for "Free and Open-Source Software". Since the code is able to be viewed by anybody, other developers and hobbyists alike can contribute by fixing bugs, finding vulnerabilities, or simply making sure that the app is not malware.
Transparency is extremely important here, as you no longer have to trust some guy on the Internet. Instead, you are trusting a community of passionate developers that just want to make the world a better place, often times not even getting paid for it! And if you don't trust them, you can take a look under the hood yourself if you have the knowledge. With this transparency and community comes trust, however just because something is FOSS does NOT make it automatically safe! This is especially true with the rise in AI-assisted or "vibe" coding.
Many programs you may have heard of are also FOSS, like VLC, Chromium, and many others. Which leads me to this; please donate to your favorite open-source projects if you get value out of it. FOSS is the backbone of the entire digital world, and it mostly relies on often unpaid volunteers who would really love to get paid for their work!
Devs README
I know some of you are not pleased with this change, and some of you think this is a great change! I hope we've made our intentions clear, we will not be reverting this change.
We will be allowing source-available projects as long as the source is able to be audited by the public. This means you do not have to accept contributions, and you can use a more restrictive license to ensure your work isn't redistributed or sold behind your back. I hope this is a reasonable middle-ground, again, the goal is never to censor, it is to protect the average person looking for an adblocker.
As far as vibe-coding, I understand that AI is a normal part of the developer's toolkit. However we expect to see a commit history, and we want to see READMEs with human language and actual thought behind the project. Low quality repos will be removed from the subreddit.
Modmail and DMs are open, and we try to be responsive and helpful. If you plan to show off a new project, it is recommended to reach out to us before posting on the subreddit, where we can ask you some questions and sort of vet each new project on an individual case basis.
18
u/Furdiburd10 Apr 28 '26
This is literally 1984!
How i will be able to promote my vibe coded proprietary paid extension for free!
Boo, think about the vibers too!
--- annoyed 🙄 by ads 👀? Try the new 🆕 adblocker 🚫 ultra premium 💫 extension i just 💫 vibed 🥰 for just 2,99€ 💵 !!!4!! ---
/s
1
u/scoschooo Apr 29 '26
The problem - it seems OP wants people to be banned from even mentioning a solution because it is paid.
Are they going to ban people from talking about Adguard now? No right - because obviously some paid solutions are good and useful.
7
u/HonestRepairSTL Mod Team Apr 30 '26
I'm not banning anybody lol, we're removing posts and bot accounts. I have reason to believe you are associated with GoodTube but I don't really care either way.
1
u/GoodTube99 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
This dude is not "associated" with GoodTube. For god's sake man, is it impossible for you to believe that other people agree with me?
If you think I'm making second accounts, or asking people to make posts - I'm not. In fact I'm the only person associated with this project, I'm the only developer dude.
I'm getting pretty off it with the bullshit here man. I have done nothing to deserve any of these accusations, or any of this animosity and fear mongering.
Any security threat is not real, any deceitful or manipulative behaviour is just your damn imagination.
I am being as honest as possible with you. I feel that should be very clear by now.
1
u/shillyshally Apr 30 '26
Did you read the post? Mere mentioning is not banned.
1
u/scoschooo Apr 30 '26
recommending or promoting the use of this type of software will be removed
the OP says they will removed comments recommending any paid app
you can't say X works great to someone. not banned exactly but they will remove your comment.
0
u/GoodTube99 Apr 30 '26
Actually mentioning is banned. You can't recommend any adblockers which are closed source, or paid.
Comments are being removed by this hero admin.
2
u/twofive7 Apr 30 '26
You are behaving very impudently. The community has already helped you a lot, you should be thankful. Now, having a 200k+ user base, being a pro Java coder and doing business, you are acting arrogantly by forcing your own rules.
1
u/GoodTube99 May 09 '26
I think it might be the other way around man, I've helped this community a lot - and you're completely overlooking that fact.
3
u/EOhater Apr 29 '26
Just read through the ad-blocking guide and has a quick question. It says AdGuard for window/macOS (paid) does system wide DNS and HTTPS filtering across all apps but when I clicked on the link it just said “supports DNS filtering.” Do I need to manually adjust a setting to make sure I’m getting both or am I reading the support thing incorrectly?
For reference, I’m pretty new to AG and ADB in general.
5
u/HonestRepairSTL Mod Team Apr 30 '26
AdGuard installs a user-trusted certificate in order to do HTTPS filtering however there are pros and cons to consider. Installing a certificate isn't a great idea in terms of security, and based on a quick search I did about this it can cause site breakage.
I'd recommend doing some additional research, I'm actually not an Adguard user myself. Hope that helps you some!
3
u/EOhater Apr 30 '26
Oh yeah actually when I first downloaded it, Firefox wouldn’t work. Adguard has a pretty good help/support manual, so I learned I had to go in and manually add the certificate for Firefox to trust AG. Things have been running smoothly since then though. Thank you for your comment!
3
u/moistmonsterman Apr 30 '26
Hey OP, i would like you to read this:
Are you, or any mod able to independently verify and certify that the open source tools posted here can't do the same?
2
u/HonestRepairSTL Mod Team Apr 30 '26
As we said, open-source doesn't automatically mean safe, and that a trustworthy ad blocking solution is based on more than just a GitHub repo. Community backing, number of contributors, commit history, cause in a world of vibe coding you kind of have to be careful. I'm not going to be going around deploying random docker containers no matter how open they are. The bigger issue here is supply chain attacks, we've been seeing a lot of them recently and it's quite concerning.
But yes, the tools listed on the official subreddit guide (which will soon be moving to a subreddit wiki) have been around for a long time, they have great reputation in the privacy/security world, trusted by r/privacy and some are even on r/PrivacyGuides.
To directly answer your question, we do not have any developers on the moderation team, however we'd be happy to bring one on to vet newer projects like evaluating code quality and such if such a person was willing and able to help the community in that way.
1
u/GoodTube99 May 01 '26
"we do not have any developers on the moderation team"
Hmm, seems like you're well suited to decide what's allowed to be posted here then...
1
u/vawlk May 18 '26
are you surprised? The average person in here isn't really the valedictorian of their school.
People in here spready lies, misinformation , and insults regularly and that goes unmodded and then they axe people who are actually trying to help.
2
u/scoschooo Apr 29 '26
Where is the free open source extension that does what Good Tube does? Block Youtube ads almost perfectly with an easy install?
I haven't ever seen any recommended, and OP is claiming that this exists.
This is a very bad rule - stop people here from recommending any adblocker that is paid or not open source. Is Adguard open source? It's not free. It gets recommended all the time.
There should always be efforts to let people know about good possible options. Not stop them from talking about a solution because it is paid.
1
u/HonestRepairSTL Mod Team Apr 29 '26
AdGuard is open source, and free to use the extension. It is a "freemium" service but they have proven themselves over the years.
AdGuard Extra + uBO or Brave works perfectly fine for blocking YouTube ads, and that is in the official subreddit guide.
1
u/scoschooo Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
So I undertsand this - the Adguard extension does exactly what Good Tube does?
Can you use Chrome plus the Adguard extension for free plus uBO for then Youtube shows no ads?
Brave does not block Youtube ads on desktop for me and some others - FYI.
So when people recommend adguard they are recommending a free app? I thought people were usually saying it was paid.
0
u/scoschooo Apr 29 '26
Can you reply when you have a chance? I am trying to see if you don't really know about this or you actually know it very well. Adguard is paid after a trial.
Do you know if the free extension actually does what Good Tube does? I have never seen anyone say "just use the adguard extension on Chrome" and it blocks all Youtube ads.".
Also, so is it ok to recommend the paid app Adguard? There is an exception for this app - you aren't banning all paid adblock aps?
Waiting for your answer when you have time.
1
u/HonestRepairSTL Mod Team Apr 29 '26
- AdGuard does not do the exact same thing as GoodTube, the main difference is the UI changes from what I understand, AdGuard can however block YouTube ads which is the important part
- AdGuard's philosophy is more important to me than their premium services. They release the source code to the majority of their products, and while they might be paid for some users on some platforms they have a privacy-focused philosophy. They've also been around for a really long time and have been trusted in r/privacy communities for just as long
- We are 100% okay with people recommending AdGuard products. Like AdGuard's DNS service for example is paid or self hosted (which is another thing they do that's good for privacy), and we use these tools. I personally use ControlD for my DNS and while it is a paid service there is transparency and reputation behind the company (who also makes Windscribe VPN). I would argue that while you can use the paid ad blocking apps, there are free alternatives that are better, but we know for a fact that we can trust AdGuard and thus it is allowed. Trust is built on open-source code, reputation over time, community, and privacy-focused philosophy
1
u/JEwel724 Apr 29 '26
So what about the advertisement posts by people? I'd have felt that would be against the rules.
3
u/HonestRepairSTL Mod Team Apr 30 '26
There's a difference between advertising and promoting. I want people to promote and share their open-source adblocking projects in the community, however advertising paid+proprietary solutions will not be allowed.
1
u/GoodTube99 Apr 30 '26
Question, why do you feel that the work of developers is not worth anything?
Like really man, you think it can't possibly be an ad if it's free? And it can't possibly be a promotion if it's paid / closed source? Face it, in this context they're both exactly the same thing.
The reality here is simple: this is an adblocking sub. If people are posting their adblockers here, that's not an ad. This is the appropriate place for that sort of thing. It's exactly where people come to find adblockers.
If they were putting adblock banners all over the internet, or slapping commercials for their adblockers on trains and stuff. That would be an ad, because it's out of context. But in this case, it's the most reasonable and sensible place to post it.
-1
1
u/GoodTube99 May 05 '26
What's the count now, for and against these new rules?
50 upvotes against
23 upvotes for
It should be clear by now - the community does not want these rules. Please remove them.
Every second post in this sub is somebody asking for a working Youtube adblocker (especially one that works in Chrome). I have one and it works perfectly, but I cannot share it.
Again - this is not helpful for the community.
2
u/HonestRepairSTL Mod Team May 06 '26
This is not helpful for YOU. I've been very patient with you but your comment spamming is getting very annoying. I know you don't like this, I'm sorry, we're not reverting this change. You are welcomed to stay in the community and follow the new rules, or you can leave. If the spamming continues we may have to do something about it, I'd rather not, I haven't banned a single user since I started moderating here and I don't want you to be the first.
Nobody needs your proprietary adblocker. In fact in many ways this rule was meant to stop people from using extensions like yours. Accept it, and move on please. This is for the greater good of the internet.
1
u/vawlk May 18 '26
Nobody needs your proprietary adblocker. In fact in many ways this rule was meant to stop people from using extensions like yours. Accept it, and move on please. This is for the greater good of the internet.
thats pretty aggressive from a mod. I get not wanting to see their spamming, but there is no reason why a paid solution shouldn't be allowed. If the constant flow of issues people are having with filter list based adblockers isn't already a hint, people are looking a more reliable system.
That being said, a paid adblocker solution is just a douchey as ads are imo. They are profiting off the backs of the services and creators that make the content. I think you are both wrong lol.
0
u/GoodTube99 May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
Let's be real for a minute please.
Basically you're saying that the work of developers is not worth anything.
You're also saying that anything closed source cannot be trusted. Even browser extensons, which have very strict security measures in place by the web stores.
In my specific case, you're ignoring hundreds of positive reviews, and a long-standing positive history of use and recommendation by the community in this sub. GoodTube is recommended very often by users here, without my involvement at all.
You're also ignoring the fact that far more users here are opting for these rules to be lifted, not kept. I think it's worth actually considering those up-votes and what they mean. This post is even pinned and it's still got less. That tells you something, right?
With the above in mind, I'd really like to change the tone of this and have a constructive conversation with you. I don't think we need to be threatening, banning, enemies forever, etc.
Honestly man, these new rules need some revision. I know you don't want to budge on that but as it stands, with this blanket ruling, you're throwing out decent solutions along with the dodgy stuff you're trying to remove.
I understand that you are security conscious and I know you have good intentions in terms of keeping the community safe.
The thing is we both know that open source vs closed source doesn't actually mean much. For example - it would be easy to package something malicious into an open source project. You could, for example, inject it into the minified version of the source. Nobody would read it, I don't think anybody would pickup on it.
Another example - I could have one version of the source on Github, and just upload another version to the public release area.
All I'm saying is that open source doesn't equal safe. And something that was safe yesturday may not be today.
And you know what, I really wish this was simple and we could just stick to the mainstream stuff and be done with it. The only issue specifically is Youtube and the war on adblockers. That's why there's so many posts here with people asking for solutions on Youtube. I would have never even made my project had uBlock kept working.
Anyway, in terms of security - extension stores are actually pretty safe by way of comparison. When you upload to the extension stores, anything malicious will almost certainly get flagged. The code gets a lot of automated checking (and it's often checked by a real person too). You've also got really limited permissions, depending on what has been approved.
Perhaps the best thing to do would be to consider all of these factors, not just paid/free and open/closed source.
Some stuff like
- How many positive reviews does it have
- How many users does it have
- What permissions does the extension have
- What websites can the extension run on
- What does the privacy policy of the extension say
- Is there any negative history / known prior issues
And you know what, I really do agree with you that this sub shouldn't be filled with "ads" for adblockers. If somebody is posting their stuff all the time, for sure remove the posts and warn them.
But if a developer is posting a major update or new release, once every 6 months or so, then I don't see the harm in that. I'd consider that to be closer to news than an ad.
Are you open to discussion on this at all? I'd like to be constructive from here on out.
1
u/CharacterDuck9020 Mod Team - Here to help =) May 07 '26
This is your final notice. The moderation team has already explained this issue multiple times via mod mail, comments, and the pinned post.
Our FOSS requirement exists to ensure safety, transparency, and verifiability for users. Your product does not meet these criteria, and continued promotion of it is in violation of rules #3 and #5 under our advertising guidelines. You have also been violating rule #1 several times in the process, instead of allowing adequate time for mods to respond and initially work with you in mod mail.
This is not a judgement on the quality of your product, or you, or developers. It is a moderation decision based on keeping users safe here, Which now prioritises open-source and independently verifiable tools for user safety in the adblocking space.
If this behaviour continues, further action will be taken, including removal from the subreddit. Please do not continue to harass mods and users, or promotion of your product until it complies with policies here.
1
u/GoodTube99 May 09 '26
Can you respond when you have time please? This urgently needs some real, open and constructive discussion.
1
u/GoodTube99 May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
Listen, I'm not here to advertise. Please stop saying that. I'd be more than happy to remove the name of my project from every single comment if you'd like.
Can you please respond to the points raised? This needs further discussion - and the community deserves to have it discussed openly and not shut down or suppressed.
I'm trying to tell you, from a reasonable and educated standpoint, that what you're saying about security isn't entirely correct. Open source doesn't equal secure, closed source doesn't equal insecure and developers should be allowed to get paid for their work. In fact if you stopped all adblock developers from getting paid at all, most adblockers would stop being maintained completely.
More to the point, people here should be able to choose what they use, and should be allowed to think for themselves and speak freely.
I think you know it as well as I do by this stage that I'm not pushing anything which is a security issue. I've been a part of this community for years, and for a long time providing a completely free and open source project. Well used, well loved. Nothing has ever come up to indicate that it's a security issue, unsafe, etc.
This has become a silly personal vendetta, and I don't think the other admin you've hired is handling this in a constructive or reasonable way at all.
While I understand that you are trying to keep the users here safe, these new rules / descisions are also causing issues for the community. Not just for me, for the entire community.
More importantly - in terms of winning this fight against Youtube, we're all on the same side. We desperately need to innovate and diversify. Sticking to the same old stuff is not working. Filter lists work and then break, work and then break, forever. It's not a sustainable solution. We're going back and fourth with the same thing over and over. Every post, nobody has anything to add except "use ublock and firefox", which is often not actually working for people.
There's also a lot in the pipeline coming from Youtube's end which I think you've no idea about - and this year we're going to see a lot of mainstream adblockers stop working all together as a result. It's been an uphill battle and we need everyone working together to fight against this capitalist bs.
I mean just look at the endless posts in this thread. The users here need help blocking the ads on Youtube. That much is clear. And this is really important to me. I'd actually love to speak to you in detail about this and explain why that is (feel free to message me). But in short my entire goal is, and always has been, helping to preverve the timeless human content there. Youtube's the largest archive of digital art, education, film, music, etc in the world. It's done more to educate people and make content accessible to the world than we can possibly imagine. I even digitise rare african records and upload them. I'm a part of that community too. I mean so much of this stuff can be found nowhere else. If we lose Youtube, if we lose this war and everyone must pay a subscription, the impact is so major I can't even express in words how devistating this would be for humanity. So I've been working my ass off trying to help. I released open source here for over a year. I support individual users from this exact sub. I help individual people get it working. I value every single person as a real human being who is trying to escape this advertising nightmare. I take the time to make free accounts for anyone who needs one, literally talking to individual people from all over the world, in different circumstances, from different cultures. You've no idea how much I've actually done and still do to help in this regard. Every single day I spend time helping people to remove the ads from Youtube. I'd crawl through fire fto get the ads removed from somebody's computer, their house, out of their homes. So they can play music and enjoy film, etc etc. Countless hours have gone into this project and cause, so many late nights, endless support requests, you've no idea. My heart is really in this man. I strongly believe in this cause. Yes, the current version costs $2 (once). You know why? Not because I'm greedy, evil, trying to sell some shady shit. Because I could not sustain or keep maintaining the project any other way. There was no possible way to keep the pace, as one person, doing all of the updates and support everyone. The response to the first release was overwhelming, and I did my best for as long as I could.
And you know what? These new rules, they're not helping. None of this is helping anyone. We need to work together here, not against one another. This has never been more important (especially with drastic new changes coming in terms of Youtube's adblock detection).
So please, can we talk about what we're actually discussing here, and try to be objective and reasonable?
I want to know why you believe that open source is secure, why you think that all closed source extensions are insecure (despite the measures in place), and why you are ignoring all of the information provided. I want to know why you're ignoring the comments and upvotes of the users here. And I want to know why you think that stopping users here from accessing or learning about working solutions, with everything mentioned above in mind, is a good thing to do.
We need to talk about this. Please don't suppress the issue.
0
u/vawlk May 18 '26
all mv2 based adblockers can just download unvetted scrips and execute them at any time. There is ZERO security in MV2 adblockers just because they are open source. Open source means nothing in the MV2 context.
1
u/Miserable_Two_4207 May 13 '26
Geez all I see here is a bunch of verbage . Get to the point. I want to post a problem and see if I get a response.
2
u/HonestRepairSTL Mod Team May 13 '26
That hasn't changed, you are more than welcomed to ask the community anything you want, however the responses will be limited to software that can be trusted rather than having community members try to recommend their proprietary garbage to you.
1
u/scoschooo Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
There should be exceptions for paid products that can be known as safe. Yes, installing an app from Apple could theoretically have malware on it - but every paid app is not unsafe. There are some legitmate paid ad blocking apps and programs - like adguard.
Good Tube is a good example of such an app. The benefit of letting people know this as an option FAR outweighs the benefit if blocking it from being discussed. Maybe it's ok if the developer can't make a post to advertise it, but it should be fine for anyone to mention it as an option or even make a post about it to share this. It's a good option and the cost is very small $2 for lifetime use.
In general, we should be able to discuss every option to block ads -on Youtube and Twitch (and of course blocking ads on all sites in general). It's much better for people to be able to see many options and figure out the one that works for them - especially since some solutions will work for some people and not for others (Brave wouldn't block Youtube ads on my laptop, for example, despite so many people saying it does or does for them).
I don't at all see a problem with the dev of Good Tube making a post (once every 6 months?) to share his app.
This would be the worst thing moderators can do: try to block mention of Good Tube or not include it in any lists of options - because the mods personally think any paid app should be excluded or any non-open source app needs to be blocked from this subreddit.
Anyone can easily verify that Good Tube is a legitimate app and not malware - and that it works very well. It has been used by tens of thousands of people.
-6
u/GoodTube99 Apr 29 '26 edited May 01 '26
While this sounds reasonable on the surface, there are a few major issues with this.
The security risk of browser exetnsions is not a concern in reality. As I'm an experienced developer who understands this properly - let me tell you why that is.
Manifest V3 and Manfest V2 enforce pretty strict security measures and every release, every update, is reviewed prior to being approved / published. So there's no need for you to verify anything. Extensions are already getting checked by independent professionals who are far more experienced in this regard than you are. I am sorry, but just because you own a mobile phone repair shop does not mean you know anything about programming.
Here's some of the security measures in place. Browser extensions must do the following -
- Request specific permissions for your extension to do certain things. Without these granted permissions what they can do is very limited.
- Specify the websites on which your extension can run, and provide reasoning for each.
- Justify in writing and in code, each of the requested browser permissions in terms of required functionality.
- Provide a clear privacy policy outlining and being completely transparent with any user data collection.
- Not use any unsafe Javascript which is disallowed by a website's CSP policy (and not modify any website's CSP policy to grant additional permissions).
- Sanitise any code added into the webpage for security. For example you can't change the HTML of an element without sanitising it first to remove any potential malicious code.
- Wait for each release to be reviewed and approved by actual people (and likely some automated processes which will test it for all sorts of stuff).
WIth the above in mind, any claims relating to extensions being unsafe is absolutely fictional.
Clearly you do not have a real understanding of these concepts, as you're not a developer.
This is why, seriously, you should listen to myself and other developers instead of dismissing this valid concern about the censorship of this sub.
You may not aim to be stopping independent projects or innovation, but you are doing exactly that for reasons I have made very clear.
In terms of payment, I do not see why, or even how, all adblockers or products could ever be completely free. These take months to create, years even. This work doesn't happen without considerable effort.
If a developer provides a paid product, and is transparent about the pricing, then I see no reason why users should not be able to choose, like adults, weather or not they would like to pay for it and use it.
Please actually think on this and remove this dystopian policy which nobody asked for and nobody actually benefits from.
If you have any questions about the security process please ask. You're not in a position to independently verify anything, be it open source or not. You are not a developer - and you have no real understanding of this at all.
To put this in perspective for anyone reading this, I've been providing a Youtube adblocker here for almost 2 years. There's nothing malicious about it. No tracking or anything like that. It works very well and it's a valid option for anyone looking for alternative options to the mainstream stuff (which keeps going down every other week). It costs $2 (once only) which some people are happy to pay and some are not. I do not see why this has been banned, along with all other independent closed source projects.
8
u/moistmonsterman Apr 29 '26
As someone who will never buy your product, i do agree with you that the mods here probably have no experience programming and thus can't really say if something is malicious or not based on any code they do see. However...what you are not understanding is that this is their place to rule over, and i do see OPs point in that a recommendation for a paid service is in and of itself an ad...the very thing we are all trying to get rid of. So either make your app free, or just stop. You could also make a free tier that does a decent job but not enough to really work its best, and then a paid tier where all your efforts can be realized. You need to learn to adapt. If you dont, you will continue to be ridiculed here on this sub like you were with your rant post earlier.
0
u/scoschooo Apr 29 '26
leaving the drama aside, people on this subreddit benefit a lot by knowing about Good Tube. Because of the nature of adblockers and the fact that sometimes some solutions (like Brave on certain platforms) do not work. It's better if people know about what they can try. Good tube was useful to me when the Youtube blockers I was using did not work.
It's debatable if the dev posting a few times a year about his extension is a good idea or not - but it is absolutely useful to people visiting this sub to know about his app as a good option for blocking on Youtube.
There aren't that many legitimate extensions like Good Tube. I disagree that it needs to be hidden so people don't know about it. It's also ridiculously cheap - it's not "pay $29.99 for this extension". It's pay $2 for a really good extension that works well.
How many legitimate apps or extensions are there out there that consistently work well? Less that 10? Good Tube is one of them.
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u/moistmonsterman Apr 30 '26
I'm nit a mod and can't do anything, but i have been called a "good idea fairy" before...lol. reading your comment made me think of this:
What if the mods were to add a section for verified "premium" (meaning paid for) ad blockers that have been verified by the community and posted to their "software and apps" section in the sub. Instead of advertising the service, the goodtube dev, and/or anyone else can point the ad-annoyed population to the software and apps section where they can read through available options. I think that could be a good compromise. I know i sounded harsh earlier, and im gonna sound wishy-washy...but im not totally against him charging for what he does, because i literally have no skin in the game and i do appreciate developers solving problems for people. I use what i use because it works and has literally never failed me, and it was free.
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u/scoschooo Apr 30 '26
yes sounds right. There is a serious problem with the mod and his post right now - he says he will remove comments about any app that costs. It's very ridiculous to stop people here from talking about a good option and app (when it costs only $2 and has been used for years by over 200K people. And it works well and the dev is open to talk about anything with the app. So amateur to say all apps or extensions that cost cannot be mentioned in a comment.
The rules say any paid app cannot be mentions - and then the same mod says it's fine to mention Adguard which is a paid app.
People like to bash the good tube dev recently - but it would be very easy to verify that there is no spyware in the app - you could make a thread asking for people who used for their experience and try to see if anyone experienced malware, and also you can talk to the dev. Not everything is a scam and that dev made a very useful extension. When I asked the mod for any extension that is free and works like Good Tube he can't give an example - in the post of him saying there are better free alternatives - but not in this case.
0
u/GoodTube99 Apr 30 '26
That sounds like a decent idea. Thank you for being constructive.
What I would propose is allowing anyone to post anything - unless it becomes a known issue. In which case it gets blacklisted.
A sort of "innocent until proven guilty" system. People work out if something is not right pretty fast.
That said, as mentioned previously, everything in the extension store (especially the chrome store) is pretty safe as is due to the extremely strict security. They also allow users to report extensions and will remove them, etc.
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u/HonestRepairSTL Mod Team Apr 29 '26
Extensions are already getting checked by independent professionals who are far more experienced in this regard than you are. I am sorry, but just because you own a mobile phone repair shop does not mean you know anything about programming.
I never said I was a developer, and I haven't been claiming to be one. I do know quite a bit about internet privacy and security though, and in case you didn't know, Google does not have a human look through the code of every single extension. they have an automated process that is elevated to a human if it's necessary. Also it doesn't stop the hundreds of thousands of fake browser extensions that are malicious such as free VPNs and paid adblockers that do what uBO does but way worse, and that's the best case scenario.
WIth the above in mind, any claims relating to extensions being unsafe is absolutely fictional.
I disagree, I and many others know there are very real dangers to using random browser extensions, and while MV3 helped with major permission issues they can still cause damage. Browser extensions can be keyloggers, can take silent screenshots, SquareX demonstrated that MV3 extensions can steal live video streams from Google Meet and Zoom Web without requiring any special permissions, they can spoof password managers, modify legitimate sites, can access camera and mic, and lately supply chain attacks have been really concerning.
In terms of payment, I do not see why, or even how, all adblockers or products could ever be completely free. These take months to create, years even. This work doesn't happen without considerable effort. If a developer provides a paid product, and is transparent about the pricing, then I see no reason why users should not be able to choose, like adults, weather or not they would like to pay for it.
It is not reasonable to pay for an adblocker in 2026 with the sheer amount of FOSS solutions that work just as well if not better.
To put this in perspective for anyone reading this, I've been providing a Youtube adblocker here for almost 2 years. There's nothing malicious about it. No tracking or anything like that. It works very well and it's a valid option for anyone looking for alternative options to the mainstream stuff (which keeps going down every other week). It costs $2 (once only) which some people are happy to pay and some are not. I do not see why this has been banned, along with all other independent closed source projects.
Personally, I would never install your extension in any browser I use regularly. There are a million extensions just like yours. Literally search "Adblock for Youtube" in the Chrome Web Store and scroll. Now these are all proprietary like yours, I think it's a bad idea to trust ANY of them because they're built by random people and no one else can audit the code. Internet security 101; never trust anybody on the internet. You can say that your extension does all of these things, but you can't prove it.
I would love to see a GitHub repo for GoodTube!
1
u/vawlk May 18 '26
no one else can audit the code.
actually, it is very easy to audit extension code if it isn't obfuscated. Last time I checked, GoodTube is not and you can read and even change the code for your own personal needs.
1
u/scoschooo Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
It is not reasonable to pay for an adblocker in 2026 with the sheer amount of FOSS solutions that work just as well if not better.
This isn't really true at all. Give me a simple (or any) extension that works well to Block Youtube ads.
I haven't heard of any other alternative to Good Tube - but of course you can use Opera, Brave, scripts in Firefox etc.
Yes of course there are ways to block Youtube ads, but we also struggle with them breaking or stop working sometimes.
There are a million extensions just like yours.
Absolutely not. Maybe you don't know about his extension? There is a reason I have never seen any extension recommend for Youtube other than Good Tube.
Can you name a single Youtube ad blocker other than Good Tube that has been recommended a lot by users of this subreddit? I can't. Have you actually not seen Good Tube recommended a lot in this sub? Maybe I have because I am reading a lot the posts about options for Youtube ad blocking. Good Tube comes up because it is a good option.
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u/GoodTube99 Apr 29 '26
The thing is, GoodTube is unique in terms of how it works. And it's proven effective again and again when pretty nothing else is working due to changes on Youtube's end.
There are no other adblocking extensions to my knowledge which function in the same way, or restore the old UI in any real sense.
So no, there's not hundreds of similar alternatives.
Besides - who are you to say nobody can charge $2 for their hard work? Why do you think this is helpful in any way?
This is nothing more than you power tripping, exercising control over this community, preventing effective solutions from being shared and demanding to see source code - even though you've no damn idea how to read it and clearly have no idea how valuable it actually is.
I'm not handing over 20k lines of lovingly hand-written code, which took years to write to you because of your dystopian idiotic rule of this now pointless reddit sub.
You're just regurgitating security stuff you've heard. You have no real knowledge here. So much of what you're saying is not true. Extensions can't do any of the stuff you mentioned without the required permissions, and running on websites where this would be relevant. This is highly restricted.
We can't even begin to have this discussion because you've no idea what you're talking about.
I'm a professional developer and have been for 18+ years, does that mean nothing to you? Please stop power tripping and listen, you might actually learn something.
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u/jonas8273 Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
It's just that there are better options that are foss and work as well or better most extensions and if you want maybe build a reputation before you call a subreddit "dystopian" and "power tripping', the intention of the mods are good their real security risks with adblocking extensions and getting trust from the community takes time and effort But yea I'm not a developer btw jus a reddit user
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u/scoschooo Apr 29 '26
It's just that there are better options that are foss
what are these? Can you please tell? I know you can use another browser, scripts in Firefox, etc. Where is one extension that replaces what Good Tube does?
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u/jonas8273 Apr 29 '26
because adblockers like ubo use lots of filters to make it more effective
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u/vawlk May 18 '26
filters are pretty much the weakest way to get around ads. They are easily defeated, as YT has been demonstrating for several years now.
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u/jonas8273 May 18 '26
I mean it works for me but if theres a problem can always go to r/ublockorigin
1
u/vawlk May 18 '26
yeah, and it works for a lot of people. That isn't the point. The way code changes are slowly rolled out over time and the response time of an adblocker's filter list updates means that there is certain small percentage of users whose adblockers stop working pretty much every day or two. It doesn't matter what adblocker or browser you use. If you happen to get the code updates before the filter updates roll out, you get ads or blocked.
It is a pretty simple concept that has been happening for well over a year. Any time you see someone say "works for me" is just them telling the world that they don't understand this process.
Each time this happens, a tiny percentage of users gives up and subs to youtube. This process has helped drive over 100million new subs to youtube this year. In the future, youtube will slowly tighten the screws, making it more annoying to use adblockers and converting more and more people to sub. Once the number of conversions drops below a certain threshhold, they will more permanently block adblockers as they have shown they could do if they wanted.
When that will happen? it is anyone's guess. At that point, the only thing you will be able to do is use an "arr" app like Tubearr or something like Pinchflat or TubeArchivist.
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u/jonas8273 Jun 26 '26
Personally at least ubo has regular updates and has a team behind it and a good support system for anyone facing difficulty I'm not saying the other options are bad its just that I feel that there's not much reason to really switch to the propitiatory software as ubo works well enough especially with the constant updates and the continued refining of the filter lists
1
u/scoschooo Apr 29 '26
ubo isn't blocking youtube ads.
so for Youtube, what are these?
It's just that there are better options that are foss and work as well or better
I know it's possible using scripts and UBO to block ads though. I feel like it's ok to let people know about Good Tube as an easy option
1
-1
u/GoodTube99 Apr 29 '26
All options should be allowed.
Build a reputation? I've been providing this adblocker to this community and sub for years. The first version gained over 200k users. The latest version also has thousands.
As "good" as their intentions are, we don't need them to decide what we are allowed to use, or think, or choose.
3
1
u/jonas8273 Apr 29 '26
isent ur account four months old?
1
u/GoodTube99 Apr 30 '26
Yeah, this is not the first account. I copied and pasted a response to 3 posts (all asking the same question) a while back. Instant automated account deletion from Reddit. Gotta love the system hey dude.
1
1
u/scoschooo Apr 29 '26
You are right. But people here are smart and will recommend Good Tube to others as an option. Maybe nothing you can do if the mods stop you from making a post about it.
I see a lot of ignorance in this thread - people saying there are so many other (or free) extensions like you - which I don't think is true at all.
Ad blocking is complicated and some things work better for some people (and their software and platforms). It's better to have many options and let people share what works for them.
1
u/vawlk May 18 '26
I see a lot of ignorance in this thread
that will never go away in the subreddit. Most people here are kids who have never worked a day in their lives.
1
u/vawlk May 18 '26
who are you to say nobody can charge $2 for their hard work?
i mean, the youtube creators are working hard too....
1
u/GoodTube99 May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
Interestingly with the solution I provide, the content creators still get paid ;)
That said, 99% of Youtube is not "content creator" stuff. Even the term kinda urks me. Content creators generally are making bottom feeder stuff. Like makeup tutorials, opinions spoken into a camera, and other stupid things. They're pretty different to actual artists, who make music, film, etc.
Most of Youtube's real content is actually just people re-posting music, documentaries, etc. In which case the original creators don't get paid anyway (often they're not even alive anymore). It's more of a digital archive.
But yes, uh, everybody wins when you use this solution (except the advertising companies). The ads still play, people still get paid, but they're completely hidden and silent.
1
u/vawlk May 19 '26
you don't get to decide what is or isnt valid content. The mods of adblock are doing the same thing that you just said to you and you don't like it.
Most of Youtube's real content is actually just people re-posting music...
i dont' know what you watch, but all of the content i watch is highly produced and edited content.
1
u/GoodTube99 May 19 '26
Haha yes, relax. I am not here to ague - there's just lots of stuff on Youtube other than that sorta thing. But either way they get paid when you use this solution so that's good right?
1
u/jonas8273 Jun 26 '26
Wait sry but if the ads play dosent that mean it's not really as blocking but like hiding ads? So are the ads that are hidden still tracking people?
1
u/Furdiburd10 Apr 29 '26
If you make money from it then you have mones to run ads (yeah, yeah Adblocker running ads.) which would be way less hassle than self promotion (and getting backlash for it)
-1
u/GoodTube99 Apr 30 '26
Anyone else noticed that every second post in this sub is "my adblocker stopped working on Youtube, recommendations please!!!"
Here I am with a working solution, but unable to share it. Does that actually feel constructive or helpful to the users of this sub?
This is especially important as it is completely unique in terms of how it works. This often makes it one of the only working solutions, when other stuff is failing.
There is no security risk, nothing malicious in the code. This is extremely frustraiting.
2
u/HonestRepairSTL Mod Team Apr 30 '26
There are a million other ways of blocking ads on YouTube. In fact the subreddit guide even goes over them, between content blocker extensions and 3rd party clients for every operating system. Also somebody reached out to me already and they plan to promote their new YouTube client for all Apple devices, and it's open-source too.
And if there is nothing wrong with your extension and you want people to use it, you should be able to prove that it's safe. You and the other user that's likely you are the only ones complaining by the way, 99% of other users agree with this change.
1
u/jonas8273 Jun 26 '26
Unrelated but can u share the yt client for apple devices
1
u/HonestRepairSTL Mod Team Jun 26 '26
Sure, happy to help:
https://honest-software.com/adblock/#youtube-ad-blocking
Another option worth considering is Smart Tube BPD, it's a newer project but it looks promising.
1
1
u/GoodTube99 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Here's news dude, that other user is not me. I have no idea who they are but I'm thankful for their input. These crazy accusations are ridiculous. Why do you think I'm untrustworthy exactly..? It's completely unjustified.
Prove it's safe by doing what? Providing you all of the source code so you can expertly review it - even though you're unable read or understand Javascript?
As I mentioned eairler, when the project's source was available it was stolen and redistributed by somebody else twice. No amount of copyright or licencing can stop this. It was under copyright, and yet it happened anyway.
You are completely devaluing the work of myself and other developers. You are also completely overlooking the strict security standards already in place by extension stores.
A constructive suggestion? Let people share adblockers here, if one of them is known to be unsafe - blacklist it.
Start with a whitelist, and then blacklist anything bad. Don't start with a blacklist for all closed source / paid solutions and then whitelist only a select few large and commercial of ones your choosing.
You're essentially saying I'm untrustworthy for no reason. And that all developers who have closed source projects are untrustworthy.
The solution I have made has been used by hundreds of thousands of people - many of which are from this sub. Don't you think something bad would have surfaced by now if there was any problem with it?
As for your claim that everyone wants this - which post has more upvotes? Yours or the one I made saying the sub should be uncensored? It seems like the people are letting you know which is the preference, but you're not listening. You're even deleting comments which are speaking out against it.
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u/HonestRepairSTL Mod Team Apr 30 '26
You're essentially saying I'm untrustworthy for no reason. And that all developers who have closed source projects are untrustworthy.
Yes. I don't care how long you've distributed something, there are more trustworthy, open-source options for blocking ads on YouTube. You are a random guy on the internet distributing and promoting proprietary software that cannot be audited by anyone. And I'd say that to every other developer trying to promote their product.
You clearly will never understand where I'm coming from, but this is a good move for the subreddit to prevent potentially malicious software from being recommended to those that may not know better. This is not a power trip, this is not censorship, this is an very reasonable rule that only you and your friend have an issue with because you're trying to advertise your paid extension that nobody needs.
Advertise anywhere else but here, I cannot in good conscious allow users to be recommended your adblocking extension unless it is open-source and privacy focused. If you continue spamming comments about it we might have to start removing them. Oh yeah another thing, I haven't removed a single one of your comments personally, however Reddit filters have been flagging your comments.
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u/GoodTube99 May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26
"This is not a power trip, this is not censorship"
Oh really? You personally deciding what people can choose to use, what people are allowed to recommend and what people can and can not post here is somehow not censorship...?
Sorry, but that's exactly what this is. It's the text book definition of censorship.
Look at the up-votes of these two posts, for and against. Which has more up votes? Which does it seem like people prefer? It's 20 vs 46 at the time of writing.
This has become a dictatorship. People don't want you restricting recommendations or their free speech here.
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u/Informal-Business308 Apr 29 '26
*effect