Home Guide Heroes of the Storm Remove Hotslogs AdBlock redirect

Remove Hotslogs AdBlock redirect

Hotslogs recently decided to redirect everyone with an adblocker to a different page. I don’t think this was a very good move by Ben Barrett, the creator of Hotslogs, since the page is dependant on the user’s content.

Note: I’ going to rant a bit about the whole topic. If you don’t care about this stuff and just want Hotslogs to ‘work’ again, simply scroll down to the code block below.

Being a content creator myself I realize that it can be quite annoying to have such a tech-savvy audience but I’d argue that the people who use an adblocker aren’t the ones who were going to click your ads in the first place.
Locking content from users will simply lead to less people uploading their replays to Hotslogs and this will cause the data to be less reliable. Less reliable data means fewer people will find hotslogs useful which will lead to less people uploading their replays, rinse and repeat.
I really hope it goes well for Ben Barrett, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what he does for the community and think he overall did a great job with hotslogs. But I simply disagree with the way he handles the situation.

The whole online advertisement is a vicious circle. What lead us to adblockers in the first place was the fact that ads became more and more aggressive over the time. I remember the times of endless popups and unbelievable annoying flash ads. While popups aren’t really a problem anymore, flash ads still are (and Hotslogs uses them, too!).
It really is like an arms race and nobody can really win.
There are a few ways websites try to circumvent the whole adblocking dilemma:

  1. Show even more ads to reach the people who don’t use an adblocker in the first place
  2. Use partner programs to generate their revenue
  3. Block users who use Adblock

I don’t like any of these methods. The first one will simply lead to more people using adblockers because they get too annoyed by the intrusive ads.
The second one often leads to superficial content which only tries to sell you something and you often won’t even realize you just clicked an ad.
The third one leads to what we see right here: an arms-race.

The only somehow good solution I see is creating sponsored content which is clearly labeled as such and using ads which really fit the theme of the site and aren’t as intrusive as the ads we see now. I realize that creating ads like this takes a lot more time and effort and many people (including myself) aren’t going to invest that time.

So: Let’s continue the arms-arce!

How to remove the redirect using Tampermonkey

I wrote a small script which tricks the website into thinking that the ads actually loaded, you need tampermonkey for it though:

// ==UserScript==
// @name         Hotslogs AdBlockBlockBlock
// @version      0.6
// @description  No more redirects!
// @author       themutegamer.com
// @match        https://www.hotslogs.com/*
// @grant        none
// @run-at       document-start
// ==/UserScript==

MonkeyBroker = {
   slots: {},
   bidHelper: function() {
   },
   go2: function() {
   },
   addSlot: {},
   regSlotsMap: [],
   defineSlot: {},
   version: 9001
};
pbjs = {
    libLoaded: true
};

$(function() {
    $(".advertisementBannerMonkeyBrokerTop").height(1);
});

I’m really interested in your opinion regarding this topic! Ads are somehow vital for the internet whilst often being an annoyance and I think it’s hard to find the sweet spot. What do you think?

Update January 22, 2017:

The redirect system on Hotslogs was changed and the site switched to https, so the old script was broken. I decided to continue the arms race and updated the script above. Have fun!

Update March 21, 2017:

Updated the script again.

Update March 23, 2017:

And again!

Update April 6, 2017:

Once more!

Update April 14, 2017:

Again!

  • thesikaleon

    thx man!!! works!!!

  • mitry

    it`s not working now. pls update it

    • ezeke

      Just tested it, it’s still working for me.

      • mitry

        I’m sorry, just not understood with tempermonkey
        great job!

  • Ray

    This doesn’t work for me. Is it because I am using uBlock Origin and not AdBlock? I installed TamperMonkey and copied the script and it is saved an enabled. But when I look up a player, I still get the redirect.

    When I click on Tamper Monkey it says no script is running, but when I look at the dashboard, the script is there and it is “On”.

    • ezeke

      Nah, he changed it yesterday so my method doesn’t work anymore. I’ll have a look into it right now and update the blog post πŸ™‚

    • ezeke

      Should be working now, check it out! πŸ™‚

  • Michael Branchini

    March 21st and I am not having any luck. Has anyone else got it to work?

    • ezeke

      Just checked it, it really was broken! I updated my script again and it should work now once again.

      • Michael Branchini

        I’m still getting blocked. I am wondering if it is cause I have something set up wrong. I have tamper monkey installed, and I am using ublock with the aal 3rd party enabled. the ads section looks like this. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/11f95d8b3489f0d2aad3870106f3cc943f6b6123809217bcda94b68d963648c8.png

        I have read how to set this up in a bunch of different places. This script you wrote doesn’t depend on ublock or anything correct? It just fires on the page? Does it matter that the anit ad block reek script runs on the page as well? Using chrome as well. What is your set up?

        • ezeke

          I’m only looking at his code and adjust it accordingly. You shouldn’t need to disable ublock, seems like he made some changes again (I’ve also updated my script again).

          • CommonSenseLacking

            Thanks so much for helping us out.

  • http://zac-surrender20.tumblr.com/ Zac

    Works like a charm put in the script and all seems well ! πŸ˜€

  • Jacobo Jesus Moreno HernΓ‘ndez

    i think they change it again.

    • ezeke

      You’re right. I updated the script.

      • Vatrak

        Thanks πŸ™‚

  • SlyDaSniper

    Currently working, thanks a lot bro!

  • Curt Carpenter

    Doesn’t work (as of script and site on 4/12)

    • ezeke

      Updated!

      • Curt Carpenter

        Bless you! Thanks!

  • tizzle sizzle

    4/13 doesnt seem to work. unless adblock adblock plus or ublock is interfering

    • ThatGuy707

      If you are using ublock origin just re-check the + in the box to the right of the line:
      >d3pkae9owd2lcf.cloudfront.net
      then refresh the page

      • Curt Carpenter

        I do use ublock origin. But what is the ‘+’ you are referring to? And the link provided gives me an “AccessDenied”. Sorry if I’m missing the secret handshake.

        • ThatGuy707

          You don’t go to the link. I will explain below.

          First, you might need to check “I am advanced User” in uBlock settings.

          After that click the icon in chrome and it brings up a list of content sources. Find the content source that looks like: “d3pkae9owd2lcf.cloudfront.net”

          and click the + in the second column.

          If you are still confused you can read this: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Dynamic-filtering:-quick-guide

    • ezeke

      Updated πŸ™‚

      • Remy

        Thank you!!

  • http://zac-surrender20.tumblr.com/ Zac

    I’ve unblocked your sites ads so everytime that douche changes it i will come give your non spammy pop up toxic adds a watch, Hes loss is your gain i suppose, thank you for providing a service that isn’t intrusive.

  • Laymonoob

    4/17/17 and working
    whitelisted this website and clicked your ads a few times πŸ™‚

  • JohnDoe12

    This is not working properly currently. You can view the listing pages but not individual hero pages.

    • ezeke

      Just tested it. It’s working. Are you sure you installed it correctly?

      • JohnDoe12

        Pretty sure, yes. I’ve been using the 0.4 you made for a while and it worked fine until recently (can’t tell the exact date). Is there anything other than the script itself that should be used?

        • ezeke

          You should update to the 0.6 version in the guide above πŸ™‚

          • JohnDoe12

            I did before posting. A small update, since I tried again just now.

            I tried again after your earlier reply, and it still didn’t work (with 0.6). I usually run it in an incognito tab (at work), so I thought to try if there’s something blocking it despite allowing adblock and tampermonkey in incognito tabs.

            I opened hotslogs once in a normal tab, and now it’s working again in incognito tabs. Thanks for the replies and maybe this will help someone else running into similar problems.

  • Drothvader

    Awesome script!

    I was getting super annoyed with the HOTSLogs ads. I normally wouldn’t mind it, but his ads are super intrusive and it’s like he’s trying to load multiples of the same ad in the same adspace. Not cool.

    I white listed your site and clicked on one of your ads. You sir, are a godsend!

  • Dravis Darlock

    Thank you for this! Very few things piss me off more than sites that force users to whitelist them.

  • DanielP

    I love you.

  • Fatal1ty

    Thank you!

  • Daniel Steins

    Works like a charm! TY

  • emote_control

    You know, I wouldn’t really care so much except for two things:

    Hotslogs is known for spreading malware via the shitty ads it serves, and
    There is an unmuted, auto-playing video that unpauses itself every time I look at the tab.

    Fuck both these things. If Barrett weren’t such a tool, he’d make sure that the ads he’s shoving at us aren’t so awful we want to go nuclear. Thanks for working on this.

  • DanielP

    Is this broken or is it just me?

    • ezeke

      Just checked it, it should still work!

  • DungFu

    I tried to fix the script and put it into a github repo

    https://github.com/DungFu/Hotslogs-Adblock-Blocker-Blocker

    • http://powergamer.co Lumenation

      This fix did not work. Obviously they watch this thread because every part of the script is being blocked individually through a lot of code. The function name is

      function FillMonkeyBrokerHorizontal01() {}

      So far I haven’t found a way that stops this from occurring. I have found a few ways to make the page load properly however, you can’t interact with it. All this so I don’t get Malware again and again from this site. This should be illegal.

    • Dravis Darlock

      Worked for me man. TYVM.