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0 pointsRulerOf2y ago0 comments

> I'm curious what issues you ran into with Pi-hole?

My primary problem with Pi-hole or any other DNS-based blocker is that it silently breaks things. YouTube stopped saving my spot in videos. I couldn't click through on any link that involved a tracking service.

These things accomplish their stated task well, but leave behind an insidious trail of browser errors, broken pages, and broken apps without ever indicating to the user what the cause of the problem really is.

DNS just isn't the right tool for fixing shitty UX in the browser DOM or a mobile app. It's a happy coincidence that it works more often than not.

0 comments

Rastonbury2y ago

It must be the lists in pihole or something, I don't get any of those issues with NextDNS, if anything Ublock breaks sites before it does

instagib2y ago

Yeah nextdns regularly blocks things I don’t want to see and many email tracking links fail, some online stores don’t work (https://www.thermoworks.com/) and it’s really easy to turn off on my phone.

I saw some people setup pihole 5min temporary off buttons one way or another to get by. I run lockdown also.

Rastonbury2y ago

Try disabling ublock or other privacy extensions. Thermoworks add to cart doesn't work on my regular browser with everything but works on my browser that doesn't have those extensions with NextDNS, again it might be one of your blocklists

foxylad2y ago

Odd - I have a pi-hole on my home network and never hit the issue with YouTube. The only breakage I've found is the top "results" (actually sponsored ads) on Google search don't work, but I always scroll past those anyway to discourage bad behaviour.

In fact pi-hole works so well that I'm always struck by how awful the internet has become when I venture away from my home network. Doctorow's enshitification in action.

RulerOfOP2y ago

The YouTube thing was what turned me on to Pi-Hole's list of commonly-whitelisted domains[1], but even after adding it, the experience of things breaking was just ultimately too frustrating to keep using it.

It's really an issue with feedback, though. When my ad blocker breaks a page, it says that it blocked something. When pi-hole breaks a page, it just appears to be broken.

1: https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/commonly-whitelisted-domains...

ap-andersson2y ago

I have had to do the same to fix Youtube progress reporting, but not much more. That is one of few things the PiHole has ever broken for me (that I know of...). I agree that a problem with PiHole is that if something is not working and I disable uBlock as a debugging step, then I have to also browse and login to 2 different PiHole GUIs and temporarily disable it. Without knowing if PiHole actually blocked anything. It is especially inconvenient when on the phone. I have not looked if it already exist, but I would want a nice little app I can open and just click "disable for X time" which would disable the blocking on all my PiHoles at once. Also syncing all settings from a "master" instance would be great. Maybe the default lists should contain some of the whitelis domains or something aswell.

Still, these problems are so small compared to the value I get out of my PiHoles. Blocking ads for years on end while having troubles maybe 3-4 times in total. All the other time it just works.

jethro_tell2y ago

Is this an issue that next dns fixes for you?

RulerOfOP2y ago

Never used it, but I wouldn't expect it to, assuming it works the same way.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsRulerOf2y ago0 comments

> I'm curious what issues you ran into with Pi-hole?

DNS just isn't the right tool for fixing shitty UX in the browser DOM or a mobile app. It's a happy coincidence that it works more often than not.

0 comments

Rastonbury2y ago

It must be the lists in pihole or something, I don't get any of those issues with NextDNS, if anything Ublock breaks sites before it does

instagib2y ago

I saw some people setup pihole 5min temporary off buttons one way or another to get by. I run lockdown also.

Rastonbury2y ago

foxylad2y ago

In fact pi-hole works so well that I'm always struck by how awful the internet has become when I venture away from my home network. Doctorow's enshitification in action.

RulerOfOP2y ago

It's really an issue with feedback, though. When my ad blocker breaks a page, it says that it blocked something. When pi-hole breaks a page, it just appears to be broken.

1: https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/commonly-whitelisted-domains...

ap-andersson2y ago

Still, these problems are so small compared to the value I get out of my PiHoles. Blocking ads for years on end while having troubles maybe 3-4 times in total. All the other time it just works.

jethro_tell2y ago

Is this an issue that next dns fixes for you?

RulerOfOP2y ago

Never used it, but I wouldn't expect it to, assuming it works the same way.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse