TrackBlock by Jelinek SW

4.3 Stars out of 5

Review by 12bytes

there's not enough of these on AMO already? ClearURLs by Kevin R. is far superior to this

reply to developer: i'll revise my rating based on your comment -- perhaps i was harsh -- but the permissions required by ClearURLs are for good reason; it uses a remote file for patterns instead of having to update the ext. every time the developer changes/adds something - people complain because they fail to understand

far as complexity, it couldn't be less complex - install it - forget it - i've never had it break a page

and again, there's a plethora of these add-ons in the repo, Neat URL being the next best one, so why reinvent the wheel?

Developer response

posted 4 years ago

And yet, there are reviews complaining about complexity of ClearURLs and the permissions it requires.

This is the very first version and I started working on it today. I don't want to make it too complex, but yes, there will be more features in future. However, it will be all about blocking the tracking IDs. It doesn't have to be another Adblock.

Just curious - if you are happy with ClearURLs, why have you installed this one?

3 reviews

Rated 5 out of 5
by Black🏴‍☠️Sails, 3 years ago
Just what I was looking for. I use this addon in combination with some scripts, because the scripts don't seem to work 100% of the time.

1. https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/432387-general-url-cleaner-revived

2. https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/433408-youtube-url-tracker-remover

However your addon doesn't seem to fix instagram, facebook url tracking!

https://l.instagram.com/?u=
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=

This is why I have blocked these sites with 0.0.0.0 with uBlockOrigin ... this way I can manually copy the links without the tracking.
Rated 5 out of 5
by Firefox user 11640498, 4 years ago
Firstly, thank you for your add-on.

Secondly, I hope your add-on never will be "another CleanURL". I remember time ago, CleanURL started as a very simple, basic and focused add-on. Unfortunately along the time, it became a bloated monster, a risk for privacy and a browser performance killer.

Personally I believe that there is no privacy or security without browser performance. So please, always develop your add-on keeping in mind browser performance.

Another point: There is no need for endless tracker lists that most of the users never are going to block. Therefore, the basic trackers are more than enough to be blocked. Any other specific tracker can be added by the user, for example if in the future you add an option for customizations.

In short, focus on browser performance, the basic list of trackers, and an option of customizations... IMO that's all what your add-on needs!
Developer response
posted 4 years ago
Thanks for the review. Looks like you're exactly that kind of user I had in mind, when I published it. :-)

Don't worry, it won't ever be "another ClearURLs" - even if I would want that, I don't have enough time, so you can take that as a promise. ;-)

My "vision" about this add-on is quite humble:
- create something that works for me
- publish it; maybe there are other people who could like it
- if anybody asks me to add a new filter or two, I will add it to the code, if it is "global enough"
- if there will be few tens or hundreds of users, I'm going to create simple customization page to add (or disable) some filters
- always keep security, stability and performance in mind