I am wondering what exactly are you supposed to be whitelisting when using that feature. Let's say I visit yahoo.com and want to see all of their ads. Can I just add "yahoo.com" to the whitelist page, and then all ads on that site will function? Or is whitelisting for the individual ad networks (domains) used on that page (ie, Google, Amazon, etc).
For example, I typically use a plugin called AdGuard in my browser that offers an option to "disable for this page", which will then show all the ads on that page (regardless of where they are coming from). That's what I need as I have my own websites, where I need/want to see the ads, to make sure everything is working and where it needs to be.
However, I added my sites to the white list page (and also removed them and used the terminal method as other conversations have stated) in every way, including "www.site.com", "site.com", etc. The ads are still being blocked on these pages that I enter.
So if whitelist is meant for the ad domains and not the current website you are trying to visit, that won't work as I don't want to whitelist google ads internet-wide just so I can see them on one site.
Either that.....or the whitelist feature is still bugged (also based on previous conversations).
It is whitelisting only the specific domain, so if you whitelist yahoo.com you will not see ads from doubleclick.net when browsing yahoo.com still. The purpose of it is for you to be able to use the large managed block lists but to be able to exclude things which the list blocks but you may want.
This is only possible if you whitelist tje origins of the ads (may it be Google or whatever).
This is expected.
In contrast to browser plugins, Pi-hole is a network-wide application that cannot know which of the many requests the devices in the network make belong together. Not integrating into your browser and selectively removing what would be shows otherwise, makes Pi-hole advantageous in both, bandwidth saving and privacy compared to in-browser solutions.
Please tell us which previous conversations you are referring to so we can make sure that there are no bugs. Whitelisting is working as expected since years. We're not aware of new/open bugs.
Thank you. It is unfortunate that I won't be able to easily see the ads of my own sites without whitelisting them across every other site in existence as well. I will try to bare with it for now, remembering to log-in and turn off Pi-Hole each time I do need to see those ads (I just hope nothing goes wrong with them when I am not looking).
As for the past conversations, you can do a search here for things like "whitelist not working", but based on what you said, those conversations no longer apply.
Another worry I wonder, is about sites who deploy anti-ad-blocking techniques. Some are nice about it and allow you to dismiss a popup urging you to whitelist their site. Others block you from viewing the site unless you whitelist/unblock them (which in this case would be impossible, thus forcing you to have to log into Pi-Hole and disable it every single time you want to be able to visit one of those sites for a moment). That would make things quite a bit tedious.
Maybe someone could develop a browser plugin that allows an easy one click solution to turn Pi-Hole on or off remotely. That would be a step in the right direction I guess, with minimal steps towards intended effect.
I absolutely love the idea of Pi-Hole and I have come a long ways toward getting it to work thanks to a mistake of using a mini PC that doesn't 100% play nice with Linux (Azulle Byte Plus). So I am quite invested in trying to make this work out
Update: I just found a plugin for the Chrome browser that acts as a fast remote for turning it on or off. That's a step in the right direction!
If you really want to visit such a page (I do not use one that does something nasty like this), you can check the Query Log and selectively whitelist blocked domains until you can access the page. This might result in that only some of the ads (or, ideally, even only the detection page) are shown.
What would you need more in such a browser plugin? It is likely that you can reach the developer of this plugin on this platform. I'm not using Chrome and also don't know who wrote the plugin you mentioned.
I'd say you don't need much more than that. This makes it a bit more easier to work with things. The plugin I found is https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/remote-switch-for-pi-hole/nkkklnmkpmobgcbkipccdjahpcgbhnki and so far it has quickly eased most of my concerns
The only thing left is randomly wandering onto one of my pages/sites by chance (not for the purposes of working on the ads), and noticing one of the ads are down and not working or displaying something I wouldn't like to see there....that will no longer happen unless I remember to switch it off via the plugin no matter the reason of the visit each time. I know laziness will eventually set in and I will likely begin to "forget" to switch it off if all I am doing is visiting a single page quickly. At this point though, that would be my fault just as much, and I think the benefits have finally outweighed the loss thanks to that plugin
