I've posted this before, but you can achieve the same with uBlock Origin static filters alone without having to install any additional extensions. For example:
To block results from specific domains on Google or DDG:
Having a button to remove the offending site right from the search results saves quite a bit of time, so while i usually prefer not to have extra extensions, i see a lot of utility here.
uBlock is a great blocker, but an absolutely garbage UI. Luckily the on/off button + 'Element Blocker' context menu entry do most of what I want without having to yet again try to decipher its cryptic icons.
I like ublock origin's UI. Its one of the best extension UI's Ive used. Simple and clear. It's bare bones for power users and I guess that makes it inaccessible, calling it garbage seems like overkill.
It's not clear though. I still have no idea what these columns mean, despite have been actively learning about them multiple times (as in, I have to re-learn every time I need to use them). They don't even have tooltips.
A good UI should be self-explanatory, this is not even close.
Wasn’t it though? Just click the “I’m an advanced user” button in the uBlock Origin options. Then you get the per-domain block details in the uBlock Origin extension button just like uMatrix.
Not denying that. However, unless I'd be blocking new domains on a weekly basis, I just don't think it's worth installing an additional extension for something that's so easily achieved without.
I've started blocking results using ublock last year after it has been mentioned here, and I've got to the point where I have a script I can use to generate the relevant filters for google/bing and a few other search engines.
When I spot any domain which has been squatted by SEO and useless comparison-alike websites I immediately block it. This has brought up the quality of results IMMENSELY.
The interesting thing is that Google could do this easily if they wanted to, but for some reason they don't. After all, if you can do it as an end user and in a low enough amount of time that it is worth it for you then surely Google can do it, they get to amortize that time across many more users.
Google in general has an aversion to giving users control. Their product vision is an omniscient AI that gives you enough of what you want that you'll tolerate the ads. The removal of user control is aided in many cases by justifications around security and UX design simplicity ("users don't know what they want"). But really it's about keeping control on the AI side.
That’s the ticket. “Many intelligent people go out of their way to silence this site” is EXACTLY the kind of signal I want to pump into my information retrieval system.
Should be possible to crowd source this and publish the result as a list that’s consumed by uBlock origin…
There's too much personal stuff on there for me to be comfortable sharing it as is, and I'm afraid I don't have time to distil the list this weekend either.
I'd be happy to create you some ready-made filters for any specific sites or other types of results that you'd like to get rid of though, just let me know!
No, no problem, if it is just for me, I figured that if this can be crowdsourced effectively it would really clean up the search results and that is worth it if enough people start using it.
It might even be enough to stick it on github or gitlab and start accepting pull requests against a starter list.
Is it possible to block/hide "People Also Search For" boxes in Google search results? It's annoying because each time you go back to search results, this little box re-aligns the whole list of results so you can't quickly click on the next search result.
To block results from specific domains on Google or DDG:
And it's even possible to target an element's text content with a `:has-text(/regex/)` selector: As a bonus, here's how to get rid of Medium's obnoxious cookie notification across all domains: