InformAction Forums

When using Dictionary.com and clicking on the auditory pronounce word icon (little speaker icon near word) it is supposed to (use to do this) just pronounce the word and still stay on the same page. This still works this way with Chrome and IE without NoScript. In Firefox with NoScript even with "Allow all this page" set in NoScript clicking on this pronounce word icon opens a new age with scan bar to listen to the pronunciation.

How can I get Firefox to work like it should in Dictionary.com when clicking on the pronunciation icon and remain on the web page and just sound out the word without opening a new page to do this?

Does anyone else using NoScript experience the same thing with the website "Dictionary.com"?

And if you don't (it stays on the same webpage) and it works like it should and remains on the same page (as Dictionary.com does with other browsers NOT using NosScript) then what have you done to make this work correctly using NoScript?

I have tried disabling AddBlockPlus for Dictionary.com but that doesn't change things.

Here's a LINK TO DICTIONARY.COM to check out, click on the little speaker icon at the right area of the word, does this pronounce the word without leaving the page for you? This is what it should do, but in my case a new page is opened to do this which is not the case with other browsers not using NoScript.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Okay, I've found the problem (figured I'd leave this here in the forum to help others in the event they might have the same issue).

For the Dictionary.com "pronunciation" icon to work properly (remain on same page when requesting a pronunciation of a word) the "Googletagservices.com" has to be "Allowed" in "NoScript".

Caveat, for me since I'm also using other add-ons in Firefox that will also block this function on Dictionary.com I've had to also apply settings for the following two add-ons as well. Just in case this might be of help, if you're using the "Disconnect" Firefox add-on then "Google" has to be allowed for Dictionary.com to work properly regarding word pronunciation as well. Also in the event you might be using the "Avast On-line Security" add-on the "Add-Tracking" (Google) option has to be disabled in this add-on as well to allow the "Pronunciation" function on the Dictionary.com web page to work properly.

Er, not solved. NoScript is supposed to have a surrogate script for googletagservices.com such that you should *never* need to Allow that site in NoScript to get other site to work.

Thanks for the report, I'll look into this.

barbaz wrote:Er, not solved. NoScript is supposed to have a surrogate script for googletagservices.com such that you should *never* need to Allow that site in NoScript to get other site to work.

Thanks for the report, I'll look into this.

Thanks barbaz, that's very good to know since clearly it wouldn't be good if this was actually necessary to get a site to work due to the loss of protection as a result (which is why I've checked back). If you find the problem regarding the "surrogate script" then "NoScript" will have definitely one-upped both the Firefox "Disconnect" and "Avast On-line Security" Add-ons that in my case do require the enabling of "Google" (tracking) for the site "Dictionary.com" to work properly.

I'll await your reply with further information on this.

Follow-up: Looking into this further (now that I know that a "surrogate script" should be taking care of this). In my about:config I do have listed the default "noscript.surrogate.googletag.sources" with *Value* ".googletagservices.com", so it would appear the "surrogate script" is there but is not doing it's job in this specific case unfortunately.

Btw, I tried adding a wildcard ("*") to the default *Value* setting to make the *Value* setting for this specific "NoScript surrogate" the following *.googetagservices.com in about:config but this did *not* help.

I would have thought this would have helped based on a NoScript forum comment you'll find in this topic thread in reference to "google-analytics.com", QUOTE: "The * (or 'wildcard' as the geeks call it) means that *all* script sources whose names end in google-analytics.com will trigger the 'safe' surrogate script, while blocking the actual data-mining one. " (close quote).

Based on the above quote in that NoScript locked topic linked above one would have expected that the "Surrogate script" would have definitely been triggered in this specific case involving ".googletagservices.com" by adding the "wild card" to the specific NoScript "surrogate" *Value* for "noscript.surrogate.googletag.sources". In other words why wouldn't the folllowing *Value* setting have helped resolve the problem: *.googetagservices.com

I checked it out last night, and this is an odd one... they're using variables which I think are from crwdcntrl.net scripts, to set their own custom addition to googletagservices's object - yet somehow crwdcntrl is not needed nor is its objects being defined, but Allowing googletagservices lets the custom googletagservices addition be defined?

I'm not sure whether it'd be better to get their custom addition working somehow, or just re-implement it in the surrogate... anyone have any advice there?

lakrsrool wrote:why wouldn't the folllowing *Value* setting have helped resolve the problem: *.googetagservices.com

It's explained in ABE Rules .pdf (it's the same syntax).
Basically, '*.example.com' is a wildcard matching all subdomains of example.com, while '.example.com' matches both example.com and all its subdomains.

(IOW, '.example.com' is shortcut for 'example.com *.example.com')

I'll be posting some followup once I find a way to get around an apparent *bug* on this forum which gives me the following error no matter what I post (I've even tried just posting one character and nothing at all and get the same error):

Ooops, something in your posting triggered my antispam filter...
Please use the "Back" button to modify your content and retry.


At which time my entire post is cleared (erased) and has to be re-entered (except that it's a good thing I have the addon "Form History Control" in FF to avoid having to re-enter everything when this occurs). I see trying "Preview" that I'm now able to post this message so I'll try adding my comments below.

Nope, it didn't work I got the error again adding my comments here, I'll keep trying to eventually post my followup.

Has someone got any ideas on why the error above, I've clearly not posted ANY SPAM of any kind at all!!!

Yeah, you're hitting our spam filter. Private message a Moderator (me, GµårÐïåñ, therube, or Thrawn) and we'll try to post it for you. PMs to moderators are not spam filtered and the spam filter is more lenient on us.

barbaz wrote:Yeah, you're hitting our spam filter. Private message a Moderator (me, GµårÐïåñ, therube, or Thrawn) and we'll try to post it for you. PMs to moderators are not spam filtered and the spam filter is more lenient on us.

OK, thanks for the reply barbaz, I've sent you a PM of my post that can't get past the "spam filter". I would add that it seems to me not worth the extra SPAM security if posts have to be PM'd to moderators to be able to post comments. As I mentioned to you where I moderate it's left to the forum moderators to deal with SPAM which I would had very rarely occurs which because of this very fact would seem to not warrant this degree of concern regarding SPAM in my view.

Anyway, I'll await your post of my post.

ADDENDUM: Btw, I've reset back to the default "Surrogate setting" in about:config related to this topic as follows: noscript.surrogate.googletag.sources; .googletagservices.com (removed the leading "*" wildcard based on what you've posted of which it seems to me the other "google surrogate" setting, I've mentioned in my problematic (mystery) post which will display once you've posted it, should also be set at, more specifically the "*" (wildcard) should be removed in that case as well perhaps. But I'm leaving the "default" as is for this other setting as well.)

Note: In this case I'm able to include a whole lot of "special characters" assuming this might be related to the SPAM filter issue and it works OK in this case. On this subject, if the "SPAM" filter is based on specific phrases then I would have absolutely no idea why I've been experiencing a problem in this regard (which is why I'm attributing the issue to "special characters" which as I've pointed is causing no problem in this case obviously. I see very little if any difference between this post and the post that was screened out by the "SPAM filter" other than the size [number of characters] of the post itself). I have a feeling that once the "SPAM filter" is triggered, it is not thereafter re-initialized since once this occurred I wasn't even allowed to enter simply one or zero characters in my post subsequent to getting the SPAM filter error hence requiring me to start the post over again from scratch. These are the kinds of issues that arise when using "automated" SPAM filters which can be a nuisance especially when used on forum boards.

er, I didn't receive the PM...

barbaz wrote:er, I didn't receive the PM...

OK, as I did before, I've clicked on your screen name, clicked on "Send private message" observed that your user name barbaz is showing in the "To" box. Then entered my post (text) and pressed "Submit". I get the message that it was sent successfully, hopefully you will get it this time.

Got it, I'll post it in a moment...

barbaz wrote:

lakrsrool wrote:why wouldn't the folllowing *Value* setting have helped resolve the problem: *.googetagservices.com

It's explained in ABE Rules .pdf (it's the same syntax).
Basically, '*.example.com' is a wildcard matching all subdomains of example.com, while '.example.com' matches both example.com and all its subdomains.

(IOW, '.example.com' is shortcut for 'example.com *.example.com')

OK, so if I'm understanding this correctly leaving off the "*" (wildcard) would be more inclusive since "both example.com" *and* all relevant "subdomains" are involved as opposed to using the "*" which involves exclusively *only* "all subdomains".

What I find interesting is the following *default* settings (in red below) in "about:config" for these two specific NoScript surrogate settings:

1) noscript.surrogate.ga.sources; *.google-analytics.com

2) noscript.surrogate.googletag.sources; .googletagservices.com

So then in the case of "google-analytics.com" the "Surrogate" only applies to its "subdomains" and *not* "google-analytics.com" specifically (that is based on how this is explained here).

One would have intuitively expected both "Surrogate" settings above to be the same i.e. without the "*" (wildcard) in both cases.

lakrsrool wrote:One would have intuitively expected both "Surrogate" settings above to be the same i.e. without the "*" (wildcard) in both cases.

I think the google-analytics surrogate may have been added before the .example.net syntax...