Taboola whitelisting too annoying, turned off acceptable ads

This is the place to discuss issues with the acceptable ads list like a website no longer complying with the criteria.
Post Reply
abpuser621
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2015 5:17 pm

Taboola whitelisting too annoying, turned off acceptable ads

Post by abpuser621 »

Countless users have voiced dissatisfaction in this forum regarding Taboola ads. I've asked whether it's possible to block all of those without disabling acceptable ads and the answer seems to be no. I tried to disable the Taboola whitelist rules, but that seems to be something that will require constant maintenance, since I just saw another Taboola ad, "Say Goodbye To Back Pain With This Cool Trick", with Bane holding up a bent guy with crudely drawn red arrows pointing to his back.

I have provided the feedback before. Others have provided the feedback before (I think there are like 5 threads on it on the first page of the acceptable ads discussion forum), the answer always was some vague dodging around that amounted to "sure, but we're not changing it". It is of course your right to make that decision, but it is mine to stop participating in the acceptable ads progam. I hope the money eyeo makes from them is really good because in the long term, these ads will destroy your business model just like the practices of the ad industry caused adblockers to spawn.

Just providing this feedback one last time, hoping that there is still some sense left.
User avatar
mapx
Posts: 21940
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 2:01 pm

Re: Taboola whitelisting too annoying, turned off acceptable ads

Post by mapx »

just try

Code: Select all

||taboola.com^
rmzalbar
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2017 6:21 pm

Re: Taboola whitelisting too annoying, turned off acceptable ads

Post by rmzalbar »

I want to support the websites that produce content that interests me so that they continue to generate it.

I'm not willing to be subjected to deceptive, obnoxious, insulting, or offensive ad content.

Taboola and Outbrain are the reason I disable the Acceptable Ads filter.

Taboola and Outbrain are harming ad revenue by destroying the credibility of the Acceptable Ads whitelist and its participants. Of course I can add a custom Taboola filter, and I have. However, I soon realized that if Taboola is considered "acceptable," then other content the list allows likely does not meet minimum standards of acceptability either, so I disabled the entire thing to save myself the aggravation.

Stupid ads = reduced revenue distributed among Acceptable Ads participants. It's very, very simple: Kick the scum out of your club or I won't have anything to do with you. I've already disabled my Acceptable Ads filter. Ball in your court.
JoshDL
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Apr 05, 2017 6:22 am

Re: Taboola whitelisting too annoying, turned off acceptable ads

Post by JoshDL »

I am also disabling all ads until Taboola is excluded. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy... than the typical Taboola ad panel.

I cannot believe that these ads are still legal in the year 2017, much less that they are exempted from a default AdBlock install. They are offensive to my being. As a regular donor to content creators I enjoy, I don't feel bad blocking all ads to rid myself (and, I hope, eventually the world) of these disgusting affronts to humanity. In fact, I actively support the dismantling of any website that would willfully display Taboola ads. I believe most do so on accident, because their ads are served by a separate party that happens to include Taboola.

There are five companies in this world I hate more than Taboola. Only one is an advertising company. That company is Criteo, and somehow, they are ALSO on this list. This is outrageous. But Criteo's ads are actually spot on; it's their ethics that are questionable. So...

For now, how about we wipe Taboola from the face of the earth? Let's start with the AdBlock whitelist.

Peace and love.
ttulinsky
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2017 1:03 am

Re: Taboola whitelisting too annoying, turned off acceptable ads

Post by ttulinsky »

Just wanted to second this. Taboola and its cousins are the worst ads on the web, along with autoplaying videos. An Acceptable Ads program is useless if it does not block them.
User avatar
mapx
Posts: 21940
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 2:01 pm

Re: Taboola whitelisting too annoying, turned off acceptable ads

Post by mapx »

again taboola: on

Code: Select all

Breitbart.com
see
forum/viewtopic.php?p=172643#p172643
SpinalBallsit
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2017 2:16 pm

Re: Taboola whitelisting too annoying, turned off acceptable ads

Post by SpinalBallsit »

Just download Hostsman

Code: Select all

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/hostsman.html
Author Site:

Code: Select all

http://www.abelhadigital.com/hostsman/
(Down atm)

And add the following to your hosts file to completely block taboola from appearing anywhere on your computer:

taboola.com
cdn.taboola.com
c.taboola.com
c1.taboola.com
c2.taboola.com
c3.taboola.com

The same can be done for other ad networks, and it works across all applications, also as example browsers without adblockers, steam etc.

You can also go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts and edit the file directly.
Remember to add 127.0.0.1 before each entry.
Example:
127.0.0.1 taboola.com
127.0.0.1 cdn.taboola.com
etc. etc.
SpinalBallsit
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2017 2:16 pm

Re: Taboola whitelisting too annoying, turned off acceptable ads

Post by SpinalBallsit »

Post above locked, here's some more/new taboola domains:

Code: Select all

trc.taboola.com
resources.taboola.com
match.taboola.com
images.taboola.com
15.taboola.com
vidstat.taboola.com
convhkmp.taboola.com
convammp.taboola.com
wf.taboola.com
opps.taboola.com
nr.taboola.com

All domains for easy copy paste into hostsman:

Code: Select all

taboola.com
cdn.taboola.com
c.taboola.com
c1.taboola.com
c2.taboola.com
c3.taboola.com
trc.taboola.com
resources.taboola.com
match.taboola.com
images.taboola.com
15.taboola.com
vidstat.taboola.com
convhkmp.taboola.com
convammp.taboola.com
wf.taboola.com
opps.taboola.com
nr.taboola.com

:D
Hydranix
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2016 8:52 pm

Re: Taboola whitelisting too annoying, turned off acceptable ads

Post by Hydranix »

SpinalBallsit wrote:Post above locked, here's some more/new taboola domains:

Code: Select all

...

All domains for easy copy paste into hostsman:

Code: Select all

...

:D
better to use 0.0.0.0 instead of 127.0.0.1

0.0.0.0 should instantly return as unresolvable, while 127.0.0.1 is the local machine, at best requiring every request to timeout, or it can interfere with programs, servers, and services listening on the loopback interface, wasting CPU cycles, power, and even causing lag on every request.
v81
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2019 4:41 am

Re: Taboola whitelisting too annoying, turned off acceptable ads

Post by v81 »

Wow...
So completely surprised that the rubbish from Taboola and other junk merchants like them is considered acceptable!

I wasn't aware this was on the white-list, i actually ended up installing another plugin to deal with them.

Now i can remove the other plugin and just block all acceptable ads.


The whole idea of an acceptable ads white-list is an oxymoron if unacceptable ads are added to it, and it's a real insult to the program and the advertisers the do the right thing.
This needs to be rectified quickly.

In the mean time I'm not going to stuff around with host files and modified black/white lists for ads that ad no value to me.
sbell
ABP Technical Support Specialist
Posts: 522
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2017 8:08 pm

Re: Taboola whitelisting too annoying, turned off acceptable ads

Post by sbell »

Hello!

Thanks for reaching out to us! We certainly strive to ensure users are satisfied with the browsing experience when AA is on. Regarding Taboola, if you notice something that would seem like a violation please let us know. We will investigate the issue on our end and make sure it is addressed. You can find the criteria for Acceptable Ads here https://acceptableads.com. Feel free to contact us if you have any more questions!

Thanks
Shannon
ABP Support Team
v81
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2019 4:41 am

Re: Taboola whitelisting too annoying, turned off acceptable ads

Post by v81 »

sbell wrote:...if you notice something that would seem like a violation please let us know. We will investigate the issue on our end and make sure it is addressed. You can find the criteria for Acceptable Ads here https://acceptableads.com....
Hi Shannon, thanks for the reply.
I don't think it matters weather or not Taboola complies, the users above have spoken.
Taboola are nothing but clickbait junk merchants, people are not happy and for acceptable ads to have a chance at success people need to be heard.
If their style of ads meet the criteria then the criteria needs to be adjusted to exclude the junk they show.

For simplicity i for one will be opting out of acceptable ads, and other that figure this out are likely to as well.
I'm not going to waste time with custom filters or additional plugins.

Ultimately this hurts Acceptable Ads as a whole as now that i have bailed out all acceptable ads doing the right thing suffer, as does the idea of acceptable ads.

Until this AA has been in my opinion a great initiative.

My advice is if they have paid any admin fee to be white-listed then refund them and send them on their way.
v81
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2019 4:41 am

Re: Taboola whitelisting too annoying, turned off acceptable ads

Post by v81 »

Sad to have heard nothing back on this.
My stance in my previous post stands and i and many others will continue to block ALL ads.
Supporting junk merchants like Taboola will be the death of the acceptable ads initiative.
People have given their opinion clearly and AAP have failed them, and the sites that list with AAP.
Ball is in your court.
You have to make this work else no one will be interested and this initiative WILL die.
v81
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2019 4:41 am

Re: Taboola whitelisting too annoying, turned off acceptable ads

Post by v81 »

So.. some time has passed.
Was talking to a friend about this today which caused me to come back and take a look at this post.

I have now abandoned Adblock Plus completely and have no interest in supporting ABP or Acceptable Ads.
In theory the idea seemed a good compromise for web sites offering good content to run sensible ads.

In practice you guys ruined it by whitelisting junk merchants.

I think you guys were onto something, but then ruined it.
Too bad.
Post Reply