Page loads but gets stuck sucking the dynamic.fmpub.net adserver link September 19, 2006 5:52 AM Subscribe
This is happening again. Page loads but gets stuck sucking the dynamic.fmpub.net adserver link. + the spellcheck is stuffed (mi)
Not to mention that the error text within the spell-check error message needs spell-checking.
posted by strawberryviagra at 5:57 AM on September 19, 2006
posted by strawberryviagra at 5:57 AM on September 19, 2006
../WINDOWS/system32/drivers/etc/hosts.
127.0.0.1 dynamic.fmpub.net
posted by crunchland at 6:03 AM on September 19, 2006
127.0.0.1 dynamic.fmpub.net
posted by crunchland at 6:03 AM on September 19, 2006
Aaah - thanks for that.
posted by strawberryviagra at 6:08 AM on September 19, 2006
posted by strawberryviagra at 6:08 AM on September 19, 2006
Loving your hosts file for a slightly more verbose explanation of what crunchland just explained.
posted by strawberryviagra at 6:16 AM on September 19, 2006
posted by strawberryviagra at 6:16 AM on September 19, 2006
Well, I didn't understand the more verbose explanation either, but the fucking dynamic.fmpub.net has been harshing my MeFi mellow all morning—at one point it held up the page for a full minute—and I'm getting pretty sick of it.
posted by languagehat at 7:10 AM on September 19, 2006
posted by languagehat at 7:10 AM on September 19, 2006
When you type in a domain name (www.metafilter.com) into your browser, the second thing your computer does is go to a domain name server and figure out the IP address of the computer that hosts the website you're looking for. Then, it starts sending requests to that IP address for information.
The first thing it does is check your hosts file to see if it can find the entry there. Your hosts file is plain straight text file in a subdirectory off of your Windows directory that is sort of like your own little dns server.
The beauty of it, though, is that you can trick your computer into not going to the real IP address for certain content (in this case, the lethargic server that's serving up ads on Metafilter). Instead, you tell it to go to 127.0.0.1, which is simply nowhere to your computer. It's a black hole. And so it gets no response and gives up almost immediately, bypassing the slow response as well as the ad-spam.
This is also how you can stop a lot of other ad-spam from clogging up your surfing pleasure. There are plenty of sources to help you create a hosts file that will block lots and lots of the worst ad sites. Here's one.
posted by crunchland at 7:22 AM on September 19, 2006 [1 favorite]
The first thing it does is check your hosts file to see if it can find the entry there. Your hosts file is plain straight text file in a subdirectory off of your Windows directory that is sort of like your own little dns server.
The beauty of it, though, is that you can trick your computer into not going to the real IP address for certain content (in this case, the lethargic server that's serving up ads on Metafilter). Instead, you tell it to go to 127.0.0.1, which is simply nowhere to your computer. It's a black hole. And so it gets no response and gives up almost immediately, bypassing the slow response as well as the ad-spam.
This is also how you can stop a lot of other ad-spam from clogging up your surfing pleasure. There are plenty of sources to help you create a hosts file that will block lots and lots of the worst ad sites. Here's one.
posted by crunchland at 7:22 AM on September 19, 2006 [1 favorite]
Instead, you tell it to go to 127.0.0.1, which is simply nowhere to your computer. It's a black hole.
Isn't that the loopback address? If so, this wont work if you have a webserver running on the computer you're browsing from, right?
posted by vacapinta at 9:29 AM on September 19, 2006
Isn't that the loopback address? If so, this wont work if you have a webserver running on the computer you're browsing from, right?
posted by vacapinta at 9:29 AM on September 19, 2006
Yes. In that case, you should use 0.0.0.0 instead of 127.0.0.1 for every entry except the one for localhost.
posted by crunchland at 9:39 AM on September 19, 2006
posted by crunchland at 9:39 AM on September 19, 2006
Someone needs to create and maintain a "No-Ads" DNS server, wherein all known adservers are maintained and blackholed, and users can subscribe to for, like $5/year or something. You'd have to subscribe as your IP address, though, which would be a pain for people on dynamic IPs (most home users).
Although you could do something like the pop3-before-smtp trick that some mail hosts do to authenticate -- in this case, whenver your lookups started failing, you'd log in through a web interface to update your IP address.
I hereby give away this business idea to anyone who wants it.
posted by George_Spiggott at 12:43 PM on September 19, 2006
Although you could do something like the pop3-before-smtp trick that some mail hosts do to authenticate -- in this case, whenver your lookups started failing, you'd log in through a web interface to update your IP address.
I hereby give away this business idea to anyone who wants it.
posted by George_Spiggott at 12:43 PM on September 19, 2006
I may be wrong but I think most people tolerate ads as acceptable background noise.
Its only in cases like this, when they become foreground noise, that people get upset.
posted by vacapinta at 1:12 PM on September 19, 2006
Its only in cases like this, when they become foreground noise, that people get upset.
posted by vacapinta at 1:12 PM on September 19, 2006
I don't. I actively block all the notorious ad servers like doubleclick and googleads. I use the method I described in my previous message, and my host file has hundreds of urls blocked. The ones that aren't blocked that way are blocked by adblock in firefox. If the internet has to be paid for by ads, that's fine by me. Let it be paid for by the people who tolerate them.
posted by crunchland at 1:35 PM on September 19, 2006
posted by crunchland at 1:35 PM on September 19, 2006
Bear in mind, that ads don't come to you by magic -- your PC actually has to request and download them; a transaction that uses bandwidth and computing resources at both ends. If you never click ads, avoid reading them and never do any business based on them, then you should block them, they just waste the advertiser's resources and yours.
posted by George_Spiggott at 2:05 PM on September 19, 2006
posted by George_Spiggott at 2:05 PM on September 19, 2006
After 10+ years of dorking around on the web, last month I finally was driven to doing this stupid hosts file hacking due to the extreme annoyance of those damn LowerMyBills ads, mostly on cnn.com. Narcoleptic flamingo, hot-stepping hippie chick, W___ T__ F___? Now I get nice whitespace. Bastids.
posted by intermod at 8:49 PM on September 19, 2006
posted by intermod at 8:49 PM on September 19, 2006
If you use firefox, use the noscript add-on. It's an easy way to stop fmpub from loading without having to edit your hosts file. Much easier.
Don't browse without it.
posted by bob sarabia at 12:30 AM on September 20, 2006
Don't browse without it.
posted by bob sarabia at 12:30 AM on September 20, 2006
I've never really cared for the noscript idea, mostly because I think javascript is too integral to the web to completely turn it off. Just like I don't think disabling images in my browser is the way to deal with obnoxious animated ad spam.
Rather than assume everything is bad, and only turn on the things I trust, I prefer to assume everything is good, and only turn off the things I don't trust ... which is what those subcribed host files do. They single out the bad eggs while allowing the good stuff to come through.
posted by crunchland at 7:41 AM on September 20, 2006
Rather than assume everything is bad, and only turn on the things I trust, I prefer to assume everything is good, and only turn off the things I don't trust ... which is what those subcribed host files do. They single out the bad eggs while allowing the good stuff to come through.
posted by crunchland at 7:41 AM on September 20, 2006
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The CFX custom tag "CFX_JSpellCheck" was not found in the custom tag database. Please be sure to add custom tags to the database before using them. If you have added your tag to the database then you should check the spelling of the tag within your template to insure that it matches the database entry.
posted by strawberryviagra at 5:53 AM on September 19, 2006