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Comment by snow_mac | Hacker News Reader

I use the Hosts file to block a ton of ads and that works really well. https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts Something worth considering if your ad blocker isn't working well.

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hosts file won't work for the in-line ads present in YouTube. The ads are served from the same domain as the video you're watching.

I think it's worth noting that it wasn't always the case - there was a hosts file repo used by pihole users that effectively blocked YouTube ads.

You keep doing things based on historic knowledge and suffer those ads, while the rest of us will move along with the times and not suffer those ads. Lest we forget? sure, but it's not like they'll be going back to that technique as it's ineffective for them.

I think it's even more worth noting that it wasn't always the case that Youtube started warning ad-blocking users and stopping playback!

Even if we suppose that a simple hosts file could somehow block YouTube ads today, YouTube would detect that. It would not fare any better than any other ad blocker.

The thing is, subscribing to that file is usually just one click in a list of lists to chose from in common adblockers. Functionally (for Webbrowsers) it's the same, just on another layer. While adblockers (in Webrowsers) can do more, which isn't possible with hosts-style blocking alone.

So host-based blocking alone could be considered as just an 'emergency wheel' in case you'd had a flat, or something.

Same domain, won't work

... and if it worked, YouTube would detect that and retaliate!

Back when a hosts file was able to disable YouTube ads, YouTube didn't do that.

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