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Query on closed Bug #762
Added by dronics thirteen about 3 years ago
Hi Stoutner,
You closed Bug #762 without me being able to let you know that I already have enabled javascript for Startpage, so I don't think that it would be them A/B testing. I prefer the functionality of Startpage with it enabled and am happy to accept using javascript on that domain (and not the rest of the web!).
Also, I wanted to update you that in all my testing today (I must have done at least 50+ searches) I haven't had a single issue. All that's changed in Privacy Browser is that I have enabled the "Allow screenshots" setting.
I'm going to be disabling the "Allow screenshots" setting and checking over the next couple of days. I'll let you know.
Kind regards,
dronics
Replies (4)
RE: Query on closed Bug #762 - Added by Soren Stoutner about 3 years ago
You can comment on a bug report even after it is closed. However, I can also answer questions here in the forum.
Note that as Startpage begins requiring JavaScript to use their search engine, it is very likely that some of the JavaScript they require will be blocked by the blocklists. Hence, it would not surprise me if you need to disable some or all of the blocklists to make the site work. Also, it is possible they require other privacy sensitive things to be enabled, like DOM storage, or cookies, or the Referer header, or other things. They are likely running a large number of A/B tests, so what works for you one day might not work the next.
The setting in Privacy Browser to allow or not allow screenshots has no possible effect on the loading of websites. Whatever correlation you are seeing is purely coincidental.
RE: Query on closed Bug #762 - Added by dronics thirteen about 3 years ago
Thanks for coming back to me again.
I hope Startpage doesn't require everything that you mention otherwise that would put me off using them in the future.
The reason I was thinking this was a potential Privacy Browser issue, rather than a Startpage/Duckduckgo issue, is that going to "requests" in the privacy browser menu and then straight back to the webpage causes the web results to display. It doesn't look like it refreshes the webpage just refreshes the phone display. Hopefully you can confirm if going to requests in the Privacy Browser settings and back would cause a webpage reload?
I was going to get into the problematic scenario, go into "Airplane mode" and then go to "requests" and back to see if the results do show. If that worked then that would mean the page has loaded correctly but something was causing them not to display on my phone screen.
Hopefully you can see my logic.
RE: Query on closed Bug #762 - Added by dronics thirteen about 3 years ago
I just had the issue on my phone. Startpage loaded with search text at the top and "web|images|videos|news" tabs showing.
I used the drop down menu to enable "Airplane" mode on my phone.
I then went to "requests" in the Privacy Browser settings.
I then swiped back from the right side of my phone screen.
Starpage displayed the search text at the top, "web|images|videos|news" tabs AND the search results showed.
Not sure sure what could be going on, but hopefully then helps show that the webpage isn't being reloaded when going to "requests" in the Privacy Browser settings.
RE: Query on closed Bug #762 - Added by Soren Stoutner about 3 years ago
Going to requests and then going back to a website and having that website change is a classic symptom of a website doing dumb stuff with JavaScript (usually AJAX). Everything you are describing indicates this is not a bug with Privacy Browser, but rather a problem that Startpage has created and only they can solve (and one which will possibly get worse over time as they try to do more invasive JavaScript tracking).