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@Vlad It looks like it is working for some elements/websites but not others.

One example is Reddit: "promoted" posts are blocked in Firefox, but not in Orion.

After some experimentation, I've narrowed it down to the following.

  • The first time, some websites (with ads) are opened in a new tab (like Reddit) some ads are not blocked (like "Promoted" posts)
  • Once the page reloads at least once (either by refreshing it or by closing the tab and reopening it with History > Reopen Last Closed Tab), the ads are properly blocked.
  • If a new tab is opened pointing to the same websites, the unblocked ads are back.

This can also be observed using this page. The first time it is opened, the actual ads are blocked, but the text "Advertisement" appears all around the test description where the ads would be. After a page refresh, that text gets removed too.

The extension "version" (Chrome vs Firefox vs Firefox (Orion-curated)) does not seem to affect this.

I also think that it may be domain-related. If you navigate from one page to the next on the same domain, the ads stay hidden. However, moving to a new domain using the same tab seems to cause the ads to reappear.

Hope this helps!

P.S.: I know Orion isn't open-source, but I would be glad to contribute if you're looking for help 🙂

    3 months later

    Gadiguibou can confirm this weird behaviour, both uBlock Origin and SponsorBlock for YouTube have to reload a site to be working.

        25 days later

        Can confirm this issue is still present in the latest RC (0.99.124.4.3-rc) at the time of writing: cosmetic filters are only enforced after refreshing the page (and not on first page load, which would be the intended behavior).

          Yeah the batch of webextension fixes in the latest RC unfortunately didn't fix the issue. @Vlad I'm not sure if you guys were able to have a look at this yet, but if this is difficult to figure out, could we at least get some sort of temporary workaround? I imagine loading a blank page and then immediately redirecting to the actual page would likely fix the issue, as janky as that sounds. This would only need to happen whenever a new tab is opened.

          • Vlad replied to this.

            szlend We haven't yet, but we do plan for the next release. Can you summarize the most important thngs to look at from this thread as it is getting long?

                Vlad It's mostly just reiterating the same issue and finding alternative ways to reproduce it.

                To summarize, selector based cosmetic filters are unreliable. It seems like the extension doesn't initialize correctly on a newly opened tab vs a reused one.

                Steps to reproduce:

                  5 days later

                  For me, "Picker Mode" doesn't work in uBlock at all. Also the menu doesn't render properly and seems like I can't edit any of uBlock's settings. I had this issues in older versions and now have the same issue in latest (0.99.124.4.1-beta) version on macOS Ventura 13.4

                    Figured out how to consistently reproduce on my end.

                    Pretext:
                    I have ublock set to block the "Creator on the Rise" and "Trending Shorts" trays on the YouTube trending page (among other things), so intended behabiour is that they don't show up.

                    Reproduce:

                    1. Go to a new tab (orion://newtab)
                    2. Go to YouTube using my keyword invokation, which is set to go to www.youtube.com/feed/trending when I type "ytt"
                    3. uBlock Origin will not work. Refreshing the page will block elements as expected.
                    4. Repeat as before from new tab, but this time, type youtube.com/feed/trending manually in the address bar. uBlock Origin will work as expected on page load, no reload required.
                    5. type "orion://newtab" in the address bar to go back to a blank page. (Presumably this works with any other tab i.e. go to google.com or another site)
                    6. Keyword invokation again causes uBlock Origin to not work.
                    7. repeat back and forth and it keeps happening

                    Caveats I've found:

                    • Invoking "ytt" from the YouTube page itself will not cause the issue.
                    • Having a tab open with YouTube Trending already open will cause subsequent open tabs to not have the issue.
                    • Same as above, but closing the YouTube tab and then open a new tab open invoke ytt from a blank new tab page will not cause the issue.
                    • typing youtube.com/feed/trending manually in the address bar makes uBlock Origin work as expected, but typing that and then clicking the top suggestion (instead of pressing enter) will cause the issue again.

                    Speculation:
                    When visiting a site from the suggestions bar (Top hits, bookmarks, etc.) the page is loaded in a way that prevents uBlock Origin from working. This is fixed immediately upon refresh. After this is fixed, new tabs visits to the same site won't have the problem anymore.

                    Video:
                    Note the appearance of the "Creator on the Rise" and "Trending Shorts" trays in the video list.

                    Actions taken in the video:

                    1. YouTube visited from manual URL entry: uBlock works
                    2. YouTube visited using bookmark keyword invokation: uBlock does not work
                    3. YouTube visited by clicking from suggestions bar: uBlock does not work

                    i0mx9kk The picker mode doesn't work for me either, but that's a completely different issue. I would suggest opening another thread to track it.

                        24 days later

                        Is there any sort of update regarding this bug? I know there are hundreds of open issue, but this one concerns one of the key features of orion (ad-blocking). Without it working as expected, the experience is not great.

                        If debugging ublock issue is more troublesome than expected, can't the default in-built ad-blocker be made more powerful (lets say by adding ability to add custom/ user defined filters)?

                        • Vlad replied to this.
                          19 days later

                          Adding my voice to the vote. Hoping to see this bug fixed soon because it relates to privacy and security. The picker never works for me and the ad-blocking sometimes only works after refreshing the page. Behaviour is wonky. Following Orion’s recommendation to disable the built-in content blocker when using uBlock Origin leads to trackers being loaded when uBlock Origin fails.

                            Steps to reproduce:
                            See video:

                            Using the element picker works, but only once (either if you create a filter, or quit). To get it to work again, you need to refresh the page.

                            Expected behavior:
                            In Firefox, the element picker can be used continuously on the same page without issue. In Orion, it seems this works once, and then requires a page refresh for it to work again, otherwise the button does nothing.

                            Obviously this isn't really a big issue at all, especially with the workaround, but it is mildly annoying and I thought it was worth reporting.

                            Orion, OS version; hardware type:
                            Version 0.99.124-beta (WebKit 616.1.10)
                            MacBook Pro 16" 2021, macOS Ventura 13.3.1 build 22E772610a

                              I also experience this issue on the latest RC (Version 0.99.123.3.9-rc)

                                4 months later
                                Merged 2 posts from UBlock Origin element picker only works once per page refresh.
                                  16 days later

                                  How come the element picker issue is continuously being merged into this thread? Could this be moved elsewhere? It's a completely separate issue.

                                  Anyway, content blocking is not working reliably on the latest RC (Version 0.99.125.3-rc) so I reckon this got deprioritized out of the planned release version.

                                    szlend I understand the element picker is the biggest missing uBO functionality as emphasized in this thread?

                                        Vlad The original post has nothing to do with the element picker. It's about uBlock cosmetic (DOM) filters rules being unreliable. I already had to elaborate this twice because unrelated issues keep being posted here.

                                        https://orionfeedback.org/d/718-ublock-origin-doesnt-work-sometimes/43
                                        https://orionfeedback.org/d/718-ublock-origin-doesnt-work-sometimes/30

                                            szlend That's exactly what element picker does. It applies filter rules to remove some elements (or to add them). That's the main issue with uBo on Orion right now. The rules you applied work only after page restart the same issue applies with rules made with element picker. So these two topics are completely dependant and the merge of them is a right thing.

                                                i0mx9kk No, it has nothing to do with the element picker. It doesn't matter how you add the rules. The rules can be included in predefined filter lists, or you can also write the rules manually with the help of browser developer tools, which is what I usually do. Fixing the element picker wont fix the issue of unreliable uBlock Origin blocking, hence it's a completely different issue.

                                                I don't want these two to get mixed up, I already had to elaborate what this issue is about twice. The unreliable blocking issue is a far bigger problem as you encounter it every time you open a new tab. While the element picker can be avoided by manually writing the rules with the help of developer tools, or using the element picker in another browser. It's not something you really need on a daily basis. While unreliable adblocking is something you encounter every time you open a new tab.