Diversion Diversion - the Router Ad-Blocker

[Gen10]

DNS is hard coded on most android OS. Any special DNS configuration?

Look in the system log for clues. Try disabling Skynet and Diversion to see if you have a change in behavior. Enable them one by one to see if what happens. Try to follow the log file option in Diversion to see if some domain is being blocked.

Reboot or power cycle the router.

Yes I have cloudflare 1.1.1.1. and 1.0.0.1. setup under Wan>DNS server

I have that setup under ipv6 as well with google dns as my 3rd dns option.

It seems like switching the google home over to 5ghz somehow solved the disconnection problem oddly enough. Disabling diversion also fixed it but using 2.4ghz allows me to use diversion and have the home connection in the google home app without any issue.

 

[Gen10]

Welcome to the forum. The short answer to your question is yes: of course there’s a reason. However, if you can expand a little and give as much relevant information as possible, someone may well be able to pinpoint the reason. For example, you’ve posted to the Diversion thread, so we presume you feel somehow Diversion is linked to your problem, in which case, did you just install Diversion and that’s when the problem occurred? Did it occur out of the blue, in which case why post in the Diversion thread? More info!

Thank you! And sorry for the noob answer. I did do troubleshooting I just kind of posted on the whim. I have diversion installed and cloudflare dns setup under ipv4 and under ipv6: cloudflare and google dns as shown above. For whatever reason switching the home mini over to 2.4 ghz fixed my issues.

Also does using a usb 3.0 drive over a 2.0 drive for Diversion make a difference in speed? I currently am using a usb 2.0 stick but I have some 3.0 sticks I could spare and use instead if it would reak a performance benefit. Or is it only worth it for scripting cause from reading it seems it doesn't matter for diversion if I used a slower or faster r/w speed usb stick.

 

[martinr]

Thank you! And sorry for the noob answer. I did do troubleshooting I just kind of posted on the whim. I have diversion installed and cloudflare dns setup under ipv4 and under ipv6: cloudflare and google dns as shown above. For whatever reason switching the home mini over to 2.4 ghz fixed my issues.

Also does using a usb 3.0 drive over a 2.0 drive for Diversion make a difference in speed? I currently am using a usb 2.0 stick but I have some 3.0 sticks I could spare and use instead if it would reak a performance benefit. Or is it only worth it for scripting cause from reading it seems it doesn't matter for diversion if I used a slower or faster r/w speed usb stick.

No need to apologise on this forum: everyone is civilised here. As to USB 2.0 and 3.0 you might want to search a little or you can look at what one of our experts writes:

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/a...erlin-terminal-menu.42415/page-36#post-479487

 

[ZubaZ]

Hi,

Hopefully I am posting this is the correct place. I did a someone quick search and couldn't find others saying they have had a problem lately.

I am using an asus router ( RT- AC88U) and running the latest version of Merlin. I have been using diversion for a year plus and almost never see any ads. As of last week I started seeing ads in the Wordscapes app and now I have seen ads in another app. Everything seems to be working in diversion and it is blocking ads on websites (from what I can tell). I am not sure why only a few places the ads are getting through. Although my wife and other members of the family have said they are seeing ads on their phones.

I am using the built in "Medium" level of blocking within diversion. As far as I know this basically uses the entire "stevenblack git hub list" and this previously blocked all ads but still let me view pretty much everything I needed to view. My wife occasionally complained about something being blocked on Facebook, but that was it. I see this host file was updated last week.

I tried troubleshooting it some on my own by adding applovin.com and compute-1.amazonaws.com to my blacklist but that didn't help. I also added dash.applovin.com. (I used a packet capture app to try to see the dns for the ads, but I must not be doing it correctly). I am far from an expert here, but I know I don't like the ads. Would someone else be able to help? I will include a few screenshots of the ads/app. I am seeing it both with android and iOS devices. So far I have seen ads in Wordscapes and Memedroid. It seems like last week something was maybe removed from one of the host files that shouldn't have been? Thoughts? Or diversion is not working properly? But it appears to be. Thanks!

 

[Dabombber]

I found that Steven Black's list didn't really cover most android ads, which is a bit strange since the sources it uses do. Your best bet might be to look through a few host files and add one which covers what you need, then you should be future-proofed as long as it's maintained.

hosts-file.net has nicely split up files so you can pick what you need. Or if you want something minimal, adaway.org is made specifically for android.

 

[ZubaZ]

I found that Steven Black's list didn't really cover most android ads, which is a bit strange since the sources it uses do. Your best bet might be to look through a few host files and add one which covers what you need, then you should be future-proofed as long as it's maintained.

hosts-file.net has nicely split up files so you can pick what you need. Or if you want something minimal, adaway.org is made specifically for android.

Good thought and I was hopeful this would fix it. I added https://hosts-file.net/ad_servers.txt and https://adaway.org/hosts.txt to my host files list in diversion, but I am still seeing the ads. I checked my whitelist and it only has the snb whitelisted domains. I deleted those just to make sure and that didn't help (I added them back in since they seem unrelated). So it must be something with my router and/or diversion not working nicely together? I did double/triple check, I am connected to our network. I assume between the 4 host files I am running now that the ads should be blocked? Or maybe somehow they are still getting through. I see lots of "applovin.com" domains on the hosts-file.net one that I added. I also added applovin.com to my blacklist though, so it should already be covered.

 

[PeterR]

Good thought and I was hopeful this would fix it. I added https://hosts-file.net/ad_servers.txt and https://adaway.org/hosts.txt to my host files list in diversion, but I am still seeing the ads. I checked my whitelist and it only has the snb whitelisted domains. I deleted those just to make sure and that didn't help (I added them back in since they seem unrelated). So it must be something with my router and/or diversion not working nicely together? I did double/triple check, I am connected to our network. I assume between the 4 host files I am running now that the ads should be blocked? Or maybe somehow they are still getting through. I see lots of "applovin.com" domains on the hosts-file.net one that I added. I also added applovin.com to my blacklist though, so it should already be covered.

I'm using the standard+ blocklist in Diversion; I tried adding the 3 applovin.com domains listed in adaway's host.txt list to the Diversion blacklist:

a.applovin.com
d.applovin.com
pdn.applovin.com

Diversion reported that they already in the blacklist.

Have you checked the DNS that your phone is using and confirmed it's your router's ip address?

 

[ZubaZ]

Have you checked the DNS that your phone is using and confirmed it's your router's ip address?

Yes, it appears so, see screenshots. As you can see, most ads are being blocked on my phone when browsing online (and other phones/tablets in the house), but some apps are still letting a few ads through here and there. I never had this problem before.

 

[Butterfly Bones]

Yes, it appears so, see screenshots. As you can see, most ads are being blocked on my phone when browsing online (and other phones/tablets in the house), but some apps are still letting a few ads through here and there. I never had this problem before.

View attachment 17363 View attachment 17364 View attachment 17365 View attachment 17366 View attachment 17367

Many app developers have gotten wise to ad blockers and now embed ads in the app, so the only way to block the ad is to block that IP that serves the app content.

I am an RC over at XDA Developers forum, and that gets discussed frequently in the ad block apps like AdAway. Nothing you can do about that, unfortunately. Some apps you can buy an ad free version, but others have you stuck either way. Welcome to the escalating tug of war between users and advertisers.

 

[ZubaZ]

Many app developers have gotten wise to ad blockers and now embed ads in the app, so the only way to block the ad is to block that IP that serves the app content.

I am an RC over at XDA Developers forum, and that gets discussed frequently in the ad block apps like AdAway. Nothing you can do about that, unfortunately. Some apps you can buy an ad free version, but others have you stuck either way. Welcome to the escalating tug of war between users and advertisers.

Oh no! Well that is a pain. Ha. Thank you for the response and I was not aware of that...although I can see how that would be the problem as the ads only seem to be showing up in select apps.

 

[Butterfly Bones]

Oh no! Well that is a pain. Ha. Thank you for the response and I was not aware of that...although I can see how that would be the problem as the ads only seem to be showing up in select apps.

Were the apps in question recently updated? That is one possible indicator.

 

[IT Guy]

I just downloaded wordscapes från play store to my android phone. I see no ads at the button as in your picture.

I dont use a big blocking list. Perhapps you use the iphone version of the game?

Do you see ads in anyother game?
(If so PM the name of the app to me)

Hi,

Hopefully I am posting this is the correct place. I did a someone quick search and couldn't find others saying they have had a problem lately.

I am using an asus router ( RT- AC88U) and running the latest version of Merlin. I have been using diversion for a year plus and almost never see any ads. As of last week I started seeing ads in the Wordscapes app and now I have seen ads in another app. Everything seems to be working in diversion and it is blocking ads on websites (from what I can tell). I am not sure why only a few places the ads are getting through. Although my wife and other members of the family have said they are seeing ads on their phones.

I am using the built in "Medium" level of blocking within diversion. As far as I know this basically uses the entire "stevenblack git hub list" and this previously blocked all ads but still let me view pretty much everything I needed to view. My wife occasionally complained about something being blocked on Facebook, but that was it. I see this host file was updated last week.

I tried troubleshooting it some on my own by adding applovin.com and compute-1.amazonaws.com to my blacklist but that didn't help. I also added dash.applovin.com. (I used a packet capture app to try to see the dns for the ads, but I must not be doing it correctly). I am far from an expert here, but I know I don't like the ads. Would someone else be able to help? I will include a few screenshots of the ads/app. I am seeing it both with android and iOS devices. So far I have seen ads in Wordscapes and Memedroid. It seems like last week something was maybe removed from one of the host files that shouldn't have been? Thoughts? Or diversion is not working properly? But it appears to be. Thanks!

View attachment 17350 View attachment 17351 View attachment 17352 View attachment 17353

 

[ZubaZ]

Were the apps in question recently updated? That is one possible indicator.

Yes

I just downloaded wordscapes från play store to my android phone. I see no ads at the button as in your picture.

I dont use a big blocking list. Perhapps you use the iphone version of the game?

Do you see ads in anyother game?
(If so PM the name of the app to me)

I have noticed it on both Android and iOS. I don't think the ads start until level 10 or 11. I do have a screenshot somewhere from one other family member of the app Memedroid showing ads. I also believe I saw ads in the Yahoo Finance app. It seems like all other apps are cleanly being blocked. It definitely appears to be a problem with just a small selection of apps. The ads might be built into the app like @Butterfly Bones was saying.

 

[PracticalChip]

I created a whitelist that is basically a combination of every commonly used whitelist(from pihole and others), if you want a "one and done" style of whitelist:

https://github.com/PracticalChip/Adblocking

This is the link you put IN diversion hosted whitelist: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PracticalChip/Adblocking/master/RawWhitelist.txt

I will keep it generally updated as I go, feel free to add issues or things you want whitelisted to the issues. I will do the same.

edit: not sure if *. wildcards work, so i just left two in there.

 

[martinr]

I created a whitelist that is basically a combination of every commonly used whitelist(from pihole and others), if you want a "one and done" style of whitelist:

https://github.com/PracticalChip/Adblocking

This is the link you put IN diversion hosted whitelist: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PracticalChip/Adblocking/master/RawWhitelist.txt

I will keep it generally updated as I go, feel free to add issues or things you want whitelisted to the issues. I will do the same.

edit: not sure if *. wildcards work, so i just left two in there.

Welcome to the forum.

Do you think there’s any danger such a list might lead to user complacency and spontaneous whitelisting without ever questioning if there’s a legitimate reason for the blacklisting?

That makes me wonder about granting permanent ‘diplomatic immunity’ to a site or IP address by adding it to the whitelist. It’ll stay in the whitelist indefinitely with the user unaware if, for sound, legitimate reasons, in the future, the domain or IP address gets added to blacklists.

Any thoughts?

 

[PracticalChip]

Welcome to the forum.

Do you think there’s any danger such a list might lead to user complacency and spontaneous whitelisting without ever questioning if there’s a legitimate reason for the blacklisting?

This is more built for the users who CBA to do it manually.

It basically unblocks everything that COULD break in normal use.

Powerusers need not apply.

This is a set and forget list.

That makes me wonder about granting permanent ‘diplomatic immunity’ to a site or IP address by adding it to the whitelist. It’ll stay in the whitelist with the user unaware if, for sound, legitimate reasons, in the future, the domain or IP address gets added to blacklists.

Any thoughts?

Well, I will be managing it.

Generally speaking if something becomes spooky or the URL becomes deprecated I will remove it.

Also this KEEPS users from spontaneously whitelisting, I take care of it for them. every time someone puts in a request, I will either approve or deny it after research and let them know.

So i guess to your response, It is a curated list, but a one size fits all curated list.


edit: also I was not originally planning to release this, I just was using github as an easy way to run commits to the list in case I planned on using it.

Consider it more like an "adblock anti-break" list than a whitelist.

 

[thelonelycoder]

I created a whitelist that is basically a combination of every commonly used whitelist(from pihole and others), if you want a "one and done" style of whitelist:

https://github.com/PracticalChip/Adblocking

This is the link you put IN diversion hosted whitelist: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PracticalChip/Adblocking/master/RawWhitelist.txt

I will keep it generally updated as I go, feel free to add issues or things you want whitelisted to the issues. I will do the same.

edit: not sure if *. wildcards work, so i just left two in there.

Wildcards DO NOT work in the whitelist and the blacklist. They only work in the wildcard-blacklist (where the * must be omitted as the domain is the wildcard).

 

[PracticalChip]

Wildcards DO NOT work in the whitelist and the blacklist. They only work in the wildcard-blacklist (where the * must be omitted as the domain is the wildcard).

Edited and fixed, thanks!

 

[thelonelycoder]

I will keep it generally updated as I go, feel free to add issues or things you want whitelisted to the issues. I will do the same.

Note that Diversion uses a hard coded whitelist. The domains listed below plus any domain that is used for a hosts file or hosted list is auto added to that list.

1drv.ms
adblock.mahakala.is
asuswrt.lostrealm.ca
bin.entware.net
diversion.ch
hosts-file.net
onedrive.live.com
pgl.yoyo.org
pkg.entware-backports.tk
pkg.entware.net
raw.githubusercontent.com
someonewhocares.org
support.it-mate.co.uk
winhelp2002.mvps.org
www.malwaredomainlist.com

 

[PracticalChip]

Note that Diversion uses a hard coded whitelist. The domains listed below plus any domain that is used for a hosts file or hosted list is auto added to that list.

1drv.ms
adblock.mahakala.is
asuswrt.lostrealm.ca
bin.entware.net
diversion.ch
hosts-file.net
onedrive.live.com
pgl.yoyo.org
pkg.entware-backports.tk
pkg.entware.net
raw.githubusercontent.com
someonewhocares.org
support.it-mate.co.uk
winhelp2002.mvps.org
www.malwaredomainlist.com

removed all that you listed =)

edit: for any other issues, if you guys can use https://github.com/PracticalChip/Adblocking/issues That would keep them from getting lost in the forum and allow me to track which issues have been fixed and dealt with instead of spamming here saying "fixed"