Videos are no longer loading and playing if you're using an ad blocker like uBlock

RORIE edit: try doing this if this is an issue for you!

@sicamore said:

This is what you get when using uBlock for example. Turning it off makes the video play again. This was still working a week or so ago.

Well they do have ad based revenue for non premium users...

What browser and other extensions are you using? Also what uBlock settings? It seems to work fine for me, even with ABP and DNT+ also enabled.

I'm using uBlock on Chrome and not having any problems.

Sorry, uBlock Origin with default settings, latest stable Chrome 64bit, Windows 10.

@tr0n: I'm able to replicate it with that configuration (Chrome Version 60.0.3112.90 (Official Build) (64-bit), uBlock Origin v1.13.8):

(index):1291 GET https://static.giantbomb.com/js/compiled/tracking.js?bacd57268a49a8b274cc65713439c97c net::ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT

(index):4 GET https://js-agent.newrelic.com/nr-1044.min.js net::ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT

It's not happy about the newrelic tracker. Works fine if I whitelist it.

That did the trick.

I'm having the same issue, and it only started recently. Using Chrome and Ublock Origin. Tried Whitelisting and that didn't seem to work.

Suddenly having the same issue with latest Firefox Beta and Ublock. Strange thing is if I disable Ublock and fall back to blocking individual stuff with Umatrix it all works fine.

Same issue and I'm a Premium Member and logged in.

Disabling uBlock solves works around the problem.

Same issue, hope to not have to disable uBlock

Let me tag in @wcarle on this one.

@tr0n: @oursin_360: @tr0n: @imhungry: @eddeh: @kishinfoulux: @fizi: @rekatil: And yes, if you are reporting this, please let us know your browser and operating system! And if you can try it in another browser to see if it still doesn't work, that would help as well. Ublock doesn't seem to stop videos playing for me in Win7/latest Chrome.

I'm also having this problem too. It only started happening yesterday. I'm using ublock origins on chrome/windows 10. Seems to be an issue on firefox too.

@rorie Sorry about that.

• Windows 10 (1703) Enterprise 64-bit

Not working:

• Firefox 55 (32-bit)
  • uBlock Origin 1.13.8
• Vivaldi 1.10.867.48 (Stable channel) (32-bit)
  • uBlock Origin 1.13.8

Working:

• Chromium 60.0.3112.90 (Developer Build) (32-bit)
  
  • uBlock Origin 1.13.8
• Edge 40.15063.0.0
  • uBlock Origin 1.13.8

sure thing.

Windows 10

Chrome Version 60.0.3112.90 (Official Build) (64-bit)

uBlock Origin 1.13.8

Not working with ublock origin in Firefox 64-bit on Windows 10 Pro. Not really a big deal I suppose. I fixed it by adding cbsinteractive.com to my whitelist. Giant bomb was already on the whitelist but apparently that wasn't enough.

Edit: Scratch that, for some reason I thought that fixed it when it apparently didn't.

Edit 2: Ok I think I've narrowed it down a bit. It looks like it's the filters caused in EasyPrivacy which are causing it. I unchecked that and stuff is working again, even with EasyList still checked. I'm not sure why, as I think I've whitelisted everything that it was supposedly filtering looking at the logs, but once I uncheck it the vids work again. So i dunno.

@rorie: Here is a detailed report:

• OS: Windows 10 64-bit
• Browser: Chrome 59.0.3071.115 (Official Build) (64-bit)
• Plugin: uBlock Origin 1.13.8

Here is a list of the addresses that are blocked when trying to load a video:

• https://static.giantbomb.com/js/compiled/tracking.js
• https://js-agent.newrelic.com/nr-1044.min.js
• https://syndication.twitter.com/i/jot/syndication
• https://syndication.twitter.com/i/jot

I also noticed that this problem seems to appear and disappear somewhat randomly. Yesterday I had the issue for a couple of hours before it suddenly fixed itself without any changes from me, but now it is suddenly an problem again. Maybe there is some ad that is cycling in an out of use that is causing the issue? It also happens regardless of whether I'm logged in or not.

was getting this problem with chrome + ublock(default settings). solved it by going into ublock settings -> 3rd party filters -> purge all caches -> update

Fair, but that shouldn't really impact Premium users, and falling over on a third-party dependency is a little more fragile than ideal anyway.

Seems to error out if the page requests https://static.giantbomb.com/js/compiled/tracking.js and it is blocked. If I have a video playing, reenable uBO, and refresh from the uBO menu, that file is loaded from memory cache (which uBO doesn't seem to block) and the video plays fine.

If I force a refresh (shift-refresh), then tracking.js gets net::ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT and the video fails to load at all.

It's almost certainly not related to google-analytics.com / *.demdex.net / imrworldwide.com / sb.scorecardresearch.com / js-agent.newrelic.com / siteintercept.qualtrics.com dependencies, as my router blackholes those domains (so regardless of my browser/OS/uBO settings) and the videos playback fine (all show net::ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED in Chrome console)

(Current-ish Chrome Win x64, current uBO)

e: typo fix (idle->ideal)

This seems to have fixed it for me, too. At least for now.

@rorie: Was working fine for me yesterday, however today videos have stopped loading.

Windows 10 64 bit with Creator Update, Chrome 60.0.3112.78, uBlock v1.13.8 default settings.

Same problem for me.

Not working:

• Firefox Developer Edition 55.0b14, Linux, uBlock Origin 1.13.8

Working:

• Google Chrome 59.0.3071.115, Linux, , uBlock Origin 1.13.8

I'm a premium member and logged in on the site in both browsers.

Same problem

Google Chrome Version 60.0.3112.90 (Offizieller Build) (64-Bit), Windows 7 Home Premium, uBlock origin 1.13.8

the "settings -> 3rd party filters -> purge all caches -> update" fix does not work for me

Premium and logged in

edit:

fixed by rereading all earlier posts and adding "https://js-agent.newrelic.com/nr-1044.min.js" to the whitelist

The purge thing seems to work for me, but not instantly. It took at reload or three.

I also disabled and re-enabled the eye button aka "toggle cosmetic filtering". Left it the way it was and it worked.

Same problem, win10, Chrome, ublock origin installed. Disabled it for now (even though that's a thing that shouldn't cause an issue if you're premium, I guess?), works fine then

We'll continue to try to look into this but I haven't been able to recreate it on either my work laptop or my home machine, so it may take some time. Sorry for the trouble.

Have you tried a shift-click refresh (or completely clearing your cache) to reproduce? That seems to reliably recreate it for me, whereas just enabling uBO and a normal refresh works intermittently. (like I said above, the only difference appears to be if the page tries to fetch tracking.js or not)

(BTW, I just wanted to say that I appreciate you looking into this - I've seen similar issues on other sites and the only response was, essentially, disable uBlock).

Here's another config, same situation ("LOADING VIDEO...")

Adblock Plus extension (version 1.13.3) for Chrome (60.0.3112.90.) I think these are default, but here's the lists just in case:

If you don't subscribe to the correct lists or disable the "non-intrusive" ad list, you might not experience the issue at all.

Here the relevant part of my filtering log (AdGuard standalone; browser independent, Win1064).

URL: https://www.giantbomb.com/videos/premium/

Data type: Document

Rule: Content filtered (1 rule applied):

List: EasyPrivacy

Rule causing block: (/compiled/tracking.)

Triggered by: <script src='https://static.giantbomb.com/js/compiled/tracking.js?e741f404f9389ef8c1935f6710469357' type='text/javascript'>

So the list causing the problem for me seems to be EasyPrivacy. Disabling the list itself is a workaround. But the solution would be to add this to the custom filters of whatever ad blocker you are using:

@@||static.giantbomb.com

That's two at symbols and two vertical strokes (shift+backslash) before the string you want to whitelist. This should allow Premium users to keep any custom blocked elements or custom styles for giantbomb.com without breaking the tracker that makes videos work.

I was having this issue while running Adblock Plus on Chrome. I'm a logged in subscriber. Videos started working again as soon as i white listed the site.

Yeah I've been having issues for a couple days now. I will try white listing. Still seems odd that it would block content for Premium members but if it works it works.

update: Whitelising on AdBlock fixed the issue for me.

Was having this issue too (Chrome, macOS, uBlock Origin) , purging+updating lists fixed it for me too

@rorie: As others have said, it seems very intermittent. Yesterday it wasn't working, but now I can load videos again without having to disable uBlock.

I've also been having this problem since Monday, until I turned uBlock off. When watching live streams, the video doesn't even show up unless uBlock is off, but the issues with videos seemed to be random and intermittent. Luckily I have Premium and don't see ads anyway, so for me it's not a big deal if I have to keep it whitelisted on this site.

I'm on a 2016 Macbook Pro with Sierra 10.12.5, Chrome on 60.0.3112.90 and uBlock Origin 1.13.8 with default settings.

Never-ending 'LOADING VIDEO...' for all videos in both Chrome and Firefox. Chrome is version 60.0.3112.90, and Firefox is version 47.0.2. Problem persists across both browsers regardless of whether or not uBlock origin is toggled on or off. I am using a pi-hole on my network. In all scenarios, I am logged in with my premium account. I can use the direct download link to bypass the problem.

I'm having the same issue. Using the download link or disabling AdBlock bypasses the issue.

Windows 10 Pro Version 1703 OS Build 15063.540

Chrome Version 60.0.3112.90 (Official Build) (64-bit)

AdBlock Version 3.15.0

This solution should maybe be stickied; this worked perfectly for me, with the extra step of restarting Chrome. I also got around it by using Firefox instead.

Reference of my specs for @rorie, if he needs it:

Windows 7 Ultimate Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601

Chrome Version 60.0.3112.90 (Official Build) (64-bit)

uBlock Origin v1.13.8

Same as above except today. Win 10, Chrome, ublock. all up to date. Turning off ublock works as a work around.

Getting this issue as well. Win 7, using Opera's built-in ad-blocking. Disabling it causes the player to load properly again. Started about 2 days ago for me,

Same issue here...never-ending "loading video".

Using Opera

• Version: 47.0.2631.39 (PGO) - Opera is up to date
• Update stream: Stable
• System: Windows 10 64-bit

Disabling the built-in adblocker fixes the issue. This is recent I'd say within the last week.

I'm having the same "Loading Video" issue.

I'm using a Raspberry Pi running Pi-Hole as a whole-home ad blocker. Pi-Hole is blocking...

• dw.cbsi.com
• sb.scorecardresearch.com
• dpm.demdex.net
• cbsi.demdex.net

... when loading Giant Bomb. I'm not sure which domain is causing the problem. If/when I figure it out I'll let you know.