Add-on to exclude domains from right-click?

[ChrisGreaves]

I use Firefox 3.6.13 to search for solutions to problems, typically "Access the value you entered doesn't meet the validation rules" w/o quotes. (Probably coming soon to a forum near you!).
All too often some links divert me to a pay-before-you-enter site with a pop-up asking for a subscription before the white handkerchief is whisked away. Some sites seem to be populated by "I need this answer for my homework due tomorrow HELP" participants.

I'd love a button that would let me harvest the root url of such sites and add them to a list of "Don't let me go there".

I suspect that it's asking too much to have them not appear in the list of Google hits, but something that inhibits the opening of a new tab on right-click would, at least, save me the time of staring at those pages ever again.

In typing this it sounds as if I am asking for a parental control feature. Probably I am.
But I'm also looking for ease-of-use - I look at a page, click a button, and I'll never see that web site again (as a result of r/c Open in New Tab).

Does this strike a chord with anyone else here?

In this thread I don't want to get into the discussion of whether we should pay for solutions; fact is that today we have a choice, and while I do have a choice I'd like to exercise it semi-automatically.

[Hey Jude]

When I Googled your "" I found this in the results, and found someone else with similarity of thought.
http://codeoptimism.net/?page=2 He talks about rewriting urls if you stick with the blog long enough

Love to see "Permanently Exclude Domain"

[ChrisGreaves]

Love to see "Permanently Exclude Domain"

Thanks HeyJude.
I tried this and (a) couldn't get it quickly to work and (b) noted that it is not a permanent solution.
I might go back and look at Parental Control sites.

If you use the advanced search page:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
you will see there is an option "search within site or domain". Using that will give you, for example
windows vista site:microsoft.com
you can add a minus sign to exclude that site:
windows vista -site:microsoft.com
That doesn't of course exclude the site permanently, and you have to type it each time, but it may help.

[HansV]

I'd to be able to exclude specific domains permanently from search results. I occasionally exclude one by using advanced search or by adding

-site:bigresource.com

or similar to the search string but that's tedious.

[ChrisGreaves]

I'd to be able to exclude specific domains permanently from search results.

"And so say all of us, and so say all of us ..."

After following HJ's link I'm even more puzzled that no-one has come up with a solution.

The more I think about it the more it seems to me such an obvious feature.

One might, as an example only, want to exclude sites from Holland (~*.nl). Or restrict to solutions only from Holland (*.nl)
Or Canada.
Or commercial sites (+*.com, ~*.com etc)

Or request answers only from commercial sites in Canada (*.com+*.ca if I got that right).

There's a month's supply of purple cabbage rolls for the first one to come up with an answer.

[Hey Jude]

"Ben" also wants an answer; "Again and again web pages from some annoying domains appear on the result list (top ranked).
How can I permanently exclude these domains from beeing listed in the result lists?

Ben

https://www.google.com/support/forum/p/ ... 19b0&hl=en

Although at the top it says there is outdated content, he suggests creating a filter and bookmarking it.....

[Hey Jude]

Here is how someone modified the search engine in Opera--I don't use Opera but am going to try in FF to fool with it.

"A workaround that I have done with both firefox and opera browsers is to modify the search query. In opera, you would go to Tools>Preferences>Search tab, and modify your google hotkey search (mine is g) from this...."

https://www.google.com/support/forum/p/ ... 667b&hl=en

[HansV]

It's not so difficult to modify the search string to exclude one, two or perhaps three domains, but after that it becomes tedious. I have a whole slew of sites I'd like to exclude.
The page linked to by Hey Jude in the previous reply refers to a Firefox add-on that promises to let you build a list of excluded sides, but the URL isn't valid...

[Argus]

One might, as an example only, want to exclude sites from Holland (~*.nl). Or restrict to solutions only from Holland (*.nl)
Or Canada.
Or commercial sites (+*.com, ~*.com etc)

Or request answers only from commercial sites in Canada (*.com+*.ca if I got that right).

I do that all the time; that is, I very often use the site operator (among other), such as "site:.uk" to search within the uk top-level domain; or perhaps "-site:.uk" to exclude it; or within sites. (I guess you have a mixed use of .ca and .com; so it's a bit complicated in that case; set it to ".com" and pick the region you want, I guess.)

But as mentioned in your previous post, you have to type it each time, as long as you don't save a search result, or set up a bookmark or similar. When I get quite frustrated, I can have just a few keywords and twice, or three times, as many exclusions using the minus sign. But after a while you find that you can pick even better keywords (but that doesn't always exclude the, ehm, not so interesting sites).

I don't use it, and I don't know if it could be of any help, but the Google toolbar can save the search history.

[Hey Jude]

Perhaps you geniuses in here need to create your own custom search engine http://www.google.com/cse/

Has anyone tried this? http://www.google.com/cse/manage/create Notice that if you want to opt out of ads then you have to pay a $100 fee/yr, otherwise the "free" version posts ads. I wondered if you could write your own URL codes like Hans and Chris talked about and set them to not include those sites you don't want; which leads to the ? do you know all the sites you would like excluded?

[HansV]

It would need to be easily configurable. Often when I do a Google search, I follow a link and think "oh , not that useless site again!". It would be ideal if you could go back to the search results and click a thumbs down icon or something like that, similar (but opposite in effect) to the star icon that you see if you're logged in to your Google account:

x456.jpg

[PaulB]

You could add the sites you don't want to see to your HOSTS file. They would still show up in searches, but you would never be able to link to them until and unless you removed them from the HOSTS file. I have a large list of advertising and malware sites that I download from here. You can add your own unwanted sites as needed. The added benefit is that it eliminates a lot of ads, too.

[HansV]

I know about the HOSTS file, but I don't want numerous hits from unhelpful sites cluttering my search results...

[PaulB]

Then we better talk to Google!

[ChrisGreaves]

I'd love a button that would let me harvest the root url of such sites and add them to a list of "Don't let me go there".

(after reading this far in the thread)
I'd love an add-in that would automatically add a string to each search-term.
In the examples give here, I suspect it would be something like (air code) ~ "expert-exchange" (/air code).

Days when I was knee-deep in VBA, I'd like to prepend or append "VBA" to each and every query.

[ChrisGreaves]

...search results and click a thumbs down icon

Exactly!

[ChrisGreaves]

...you would never be able to link to them

Thanks Paul.
I endorse Hans's comments about "cluttering up the search results", but my fall-back position is this:

If I can't modify the search engine behaviour, then on days when I search for "Access the value you entered doesn't meet the validation rules" and receive 10 hits, I thoughtlessly r/c New tab on each of the 10 hits, setting myself up with, as I think, 10 new tabs each with an essay to peruse.
If the add-on/filter quietly refused to open up two of the tabs (expert-exchange and homework-cheats) leaving me with only 8 new tabs, I'd be delighted.

I probably wouldn't notice that two were missing. "read what you've got, then move on to the next page of search results".

Does "you would never be able to link to them" refer to inhibition of the r/c new tab? Or would one have to suffer a pop-up message box saying "Sorry, not allowed" or the like?

[agibsonsw]

A bookmarklet could help to peform searches and exclude sites - sometimes called favelets. It should be possible to edit the following to add "-site:dont.com -site:other.com"

Code: Select all

javascript:q = "" + (window.getSelection ? window.getSelection() : document.getSelection ? document.getSelection() : document.selection.createRange().text); if (!q) q = prompt("You didn't select any text.  Enter a search phrase:", ""); if (q!=null) location="http://www.google.com/search?q=" + escape(q).replace(/ /g, "+"); void 0

Perhaps editing it to:

Code: Select all

replace(/ /g, "+")+"-site:dont.com - site:other.com"; void 0

I think you would have to create an HTML doc with this Javascript as a link, but I'm not quite sure. View the page in your browser, and then you can drag the bookmarklet onto your bookmarks toolbar.

[agibsonsw]

I think I got it working. Enter the following into Notepad and save as an .HTML file.

Code: Select all

<a href='javascript:q = "" + (window.getSelection ? window.getSelection() : document.getSelection ? document.getSelection() : document.selection.createRange().text); if (!q) q = prompt("You didnt select any text.  Enter a search phrase:", ""); if (q!=null) location="http://www.google.com/search?q=" + escape(q).replace(/ /g, "+")+"-site:experts-exchange.com"; void 0'>My Google</a>

Open this page in your browser and then drag the link onto your bookmarks toolbar.

[ChrisGreaves]

I use Firefox 3.6.13 to search for solutions to problems, ...

I'd also like to filter out this little baby:

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