INTERESTING OBSERVATION I have been experimenting with Website Preferences in Safari 11 and noticed an interesting factoid reflecting today's "state of the web". When I go to Safari > Preferences > Websites there are lists of those websites where I have set custom preferences, I find that over 60% of the sites where I have set custom preferences are set to turn off Content Blockers. There are only two reasons I turn off Content Blockers
  1. the site won't function properly with Content Blockers on. This category is almost exclusively due to "shopping cart" issues. It appears likely that the "shopping carts" all use the same software or perhaps the same site for handling shopping cart transactions, but it is #^$% annoying that I cannot make a purchase if I block any content
    • advertising
    • tracking
  2. a growing number of sites will not display at all, the HTML does not render correctly, or graphics will not display. It is this group that appears to be growing rapidly — in the last two days I have added Imgur and MyUPS to that list. Through trial and error I have found this group varies depending on the particular content blocking extension(s) being used.
So far other than turning off content blocking on a site by site basis (which defeats the purpose) I have not found a solution. My plans are:
  1. Using Safari 11 but going through a "general purpose" VPN.
  2. Using Safari 11 but going though a VPN that specifically blocks advertising and tracking
  3. Using TOR browser and Onion Routing

Comments?
Suggestions?

If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein