Web Bloat
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I've heard it said that with every advance in hardware performance comes an equal increase in software complexity to use up all of the gains. I believe that's what we have in this situation. I'm using a DNS blocker of my own design and I currently have approximately 11.5 million domains in the block list. Aside from how impressed I am at how well my DNS blocker is performing with so many domains, I'm impressed at how quickly web pages load now that most of the tracking and ads have been stripped. Even pages that always take a long time, like Rumson, NJ 10-Day Weather Forecast | Weather Underground[^], now load zippity quick! Snappy performance. The difference is so stark that I feel we should all start charging the websites for the extraneous processing and electricity they use on our dimes, and that wastes so much of our time. I cringe at the thought of how much tracking and analytics must be going on in the unfiltered web. It's truly astounding.
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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I've heard it said that with every advance in hardware performance comes an equal increase in software complexity to use up all of the gains. I believe that's what we have in this situation. I'm using a DNS blocker of my own design and I currently have approximately 11.5 million domains in the block list. Aside from how impressed I am at how well my DNS blocker is performing with so many domains, I'm impressed at how quickly web pages load now that most of the tracking and ads have been stripped. Even pages that always take a long time, like Rumson, NJ 10-Day Weather Forecast | Weather Underground[^], now load zippity quick! Snappy performance. The difference is so stark that I feel we should all start charging the websites for the extraneous processing and electricity they use on our dimes, and that wastes so much of our time. I cringe at the thought of how much tracking and analytics must be going on in the unfiltered web. It's truly astounding.
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
Richard Andrew x64 wrote:
I'm using a DNS blocker of my own design and I currently have approximately 11.5 million domains in the block list. Aside from how impressed I am at how well my DNS blocker is performing with so many domains,
That could do for an article ;) :-D
M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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I've heard it said that with every advance in hardware performance comes an equal increase in software complexity to use up all of the gains. I believe that's what we have in this situation. I'm using a DNS blocker of my own design and I currently have approximately 11.5 million domains in the block list. Aside from how impressed I am at how well my DNS blocker is performing with so many domains, I'm impressed at how quickly web pages load now that most of the tracking and ads have been stripped. Even pages that always take a long time, like Rumson, NJ 10-Day Weather Forecast | Weather Underground[^], now load zippity quick! Snappy performance. The difference is so stark that I feel we should all start charging the websites for the extraneous processing and electricity they use on our dimes, and that wastes so much of our time. I cringe at the thought of how much tracking and analytics must be going on in the unfiltered web. It's truly astounding.
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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I agree with Nelek. Big hot topic
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day" Badfinger
And I agree with both of you. Currently in a holiday rental with 12Mb broadband, I VPN into my home to use the pi-hole filtered connection to speed things up. Makes a huge difference despite the VPN overhead.
Quote:
I'm using a DNS blocker of my own design and I currently have approximately 11.5 million domains in the block list.
Where did you find all those domains? My pi-holes have only 800 k.
So old that I did my first coding in octal via switches on a DEC PDP 8
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And I agree with both of you. Currently in a holiday rental with 12Mb broadband, I VPN into my home to use the pi-hole filtered connection to speed things up. Makes a huge difference despite the VPN overhead.
Quote:
I'm using a DNS blocker of my own design and I currently have approximately 11.5 million domains in the block list.
Where did you find all those domains? My pi-holes have only 800 k.
So old that I did my first coding in octal via switches on a DEC PDP 8
Hey, go to this page. It lists 38 different lists that together comprise about 10 million domains: The Best Pi-hole Blocking Lists 2023 (10 MILLION domains) - Computer How To[^]
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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I've heard it said that with every advance in hardware performance comes an equal increase in software complexity to use up all of the gains. I believe that's what we have in this situation. I'm using a DNS blocker of my own design and I currently have approximately 11.5 million domains in the block list. Aside from how impressed I am at how well my DNS blocker is performing with so many domains, I'm impressed at how quickly web pages load now that most of the tracking and ads have been stripped. Even pages that always take a long time, like Rumson, NJ 10-Day Weather Forecast | Weather Underground[^], now load zippity quick! Snappy performance. The difference is so stark that I feel we should all start charging the websites for the extraneous processing and electricity they use on our dimes, and that wastes so much of our time. I cringe at the thought of how much tracking and analytics must be going on in the unfiltered web. It's truly astounding.
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
Richard Andrew x64 wrote:
I feel we should all start charging the websites for the extraneous processing and electricity they use on our dimes, and that wastes so much of our time.
Or they could start charging you since they are providing a service that you use. And if you are not paying for it the ads must do so. The ones you block of course.
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Hey, go to this page. It lists 38 different lists that together comprise about 10 million domains: The Best Pi-hole Blocking Lists 2023 (10 MILLION domains) - Computer How To[^]
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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Richard Andrew x64 wrote:
I feel we should all start charging the websites for the extraneous processing and electricity they use on our dimes, and that wastes so much of our time.
Or they could start charging you since they are providing a service that you use. And if you are not paying for it the ads must do so. The ones you block of course.
My proposition was that we should charge them for the extra processing involved in receiving their ads, fingerprinting and tracking scripts.
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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I've heard it said that with every advance in hardware performance comes an equal increase in software complexity to use up all of the gains. I believe that's what we have in this situation. I'm using a DNS blocker of my own design and I currently have approximately 11.5 million domains in the block list. Aside from how impressed I am at how well my DNS blocker is performing with so many domains, I'm impressed at how quickly web pages load now that most of the tracking and ads have been stripped. Even pages that always take a long time, like Rumson, NJ 10-Day Weather Forecast | Weather Underground[^], now load zippity quick! Snappy performance. The difference is so stark that I feel we should all start charging the websites for the extraneous processing and electricity they use on our dimes, and that wastes so much of our time. I cringe at the thought of how much tracking and analytics must be going on in the unfiltered web. It's truly astounding.
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
Richard Andrew x64 wrote:
I cringe at the thought of how much tracking and analytics must be going on in the unfiltered web. It's truly astounding.
Considering I work on enterprise websites exclusively; it gets even worse. The larger the corporation, you'll have one department wanting one library to get telemetry the way they're used to and another department wanting a different library, etc. Then, everybody and their mother will use some API from Google, font, etc. and these third parties also inject their own telemetry too. It all adds up quickly. Some of it is useful, like to track users' interactions in case they call the support line. Most of it is just to find the best way to sell you more stuff though.
Jeremy Falcon
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I've heard it said that with every advance in hardware performance comes an equal increase in software complexity to use up all of the gains. I believe that's what we have in this situation. I'm using a DNS blocker of my own design and I currently have approximately 11.5 million domains in the block list. Aside from how impressed I am at how well my DNS blocker is performing with so many domains, I'm impressed at how quickly web pages load now that most of the tracking and ads have been stripped. Even pages that always take a long time, like Rumson, NJ 10-Day Weather Forecast | Weather Underground[^], now load zippity quick! Snappy performance. The difference is so stark that I feel we should all start charging the websites for the extraneous processing and electricity they use on our dimes, and that wastes so much of our time. I cringe at the thought of how much tracking and analytics must be going on in the unfiltered web. It's truly astounding.
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
Keep in mind, this wasteful bloat isn't just on the web. I'm leaving names out, but I recall one organization paid something like $60K for an exclusive web font that looked 99.9% the same as a free to use Google Font. And everyone knew it at the time of purchase. So, not only is the look not really exclusive, but they could've also saved $60K. The bigger the company the less they care about "small" amounts like that though. And you'll be glad to know, they'll be happy to track people to recoup that money back. So, the next time you see a webpage that is sluggish... remember the fonts man. Remember the fonts. :laugh:
Jeremy Falcon
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Hey, go to this page. It lists 38 different lists that together comprise about 10 million domains: The Best Pi-hole Blocking Lists 2023 (10 MILLION domains) - Computer How To[^]
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
Thanks for the link. I’ve been using PiHole for a few years. Never thought to look for lists beyond the stock/included ones. :thumbsup:
Time is the differentiation of eternity devised by man to measure the passage of human events. - Manly P. Hall Mark Just another cog in the wheel
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I've heard it said that with every advance in hardware performance comes an equal increase in software complexity to use up all of the gains. I believe that's what we have in this situation. I'm using a DNS blocker of my own design and I currently have approximately 11.5 million domains in the block list. Aside from how impressed I am at how well my DNS blocker is performing with so many domains, I'm impressed at how quickly web pages load now that most of the tracking and ads have been stripped. Even pages that always take a long time, like Rumson, NJ 10-Day Weather Forecast | Weather Underground[^], now load zippity quick! Snappy performance. The difference is so stark that I feel we should all start charging the websites for the extraneous processing and electricity they use on our dimes, and that wastes so much of our time. I cringe at the thought of how much tracking and analytics must be going on in the unfiltered web. It's truly astounding.
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
I’ve been using PiHole for a few years. There are currently about 269k domains in the stock/included lists. Saw your other post with a link to more lists. Looks like I have something to do this afternoon. Thanks.
Time is the differentiation of eternity devised by man to measure the passage of human events. - Manly P. Hall Mark Just another cog in the wheel
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My proposition was that we should charge them for the extra processing involved in receiving their ads, fingerprinting and tracking scripts.
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
-
I've heard it said that with every advance in hardware performance comes an equal increase in software complexity to use up all of the gains. I believe that's what we have in this situation. I'm using a DNS blocker of my own design and I currently have approximately 11.5 million domains in the block list. Aside from how impressed I am at how well my DNS blocker is performing with so many domains, I'm impressed at how quickly web pages load now that most of the tracking and ads have been stripped. Even pages that always take a long time, like Rumson, NJ 10-Day Weather Forecast | Weather Underground[^], now load zippity quick! Snappy performance. The difference is so stark that I feel we should all start charging the websites for the extraneous processing and electricity they use on our dimes, and that wastes so much of our time. I cringe at the thought of how much tracking and analytics must be going on in the unfiltered web. It's truly astounding.
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
Keep in mind that web bloat is happening just on the Internet---It's happening on other things, like commercial TV. TV now has a standard of 5 minutes of commercials every 10 minutes. Not only do I now have time to go to the bathroom during commercial breaks, I have time to get another beer, drink it and go to the bathroom a second time. I'm limiting my TV time to 4 hours a day---any more and I'd be an alcoholic.
