> Just to be clear, I was not advocating using third party DNS.
Well, you weren't, but the OP is a Show HN by a company offering such a service.
> It is only an opinion, but I think the ability to wildcard all subdomains makes DNS-based methods of blocking trackers easier to manage
I dunno, I think for most people uBlock rules are going to be easier to handle then setting up their own DNS server. Sure, I have my own resolver too (Unbound), but since you need an ad blocker on top of that anyway, I just keep my rules in uBlock. The following is all you need to block all subdomains but allow the bare domain:
With uBlock, is it possible to block all subdomains but allow a specific subdomain?
A resolver (e.g., unbound) is only one half of the DNS method I use. The other is an authoritative nameserver (e.g., nsd).
For my own purposes, the resolver is optional.
> The other is an authoritative nameserver (e.g., nsd). For my own purposes, the resolver is optional.
True, although I imagine for most people the nameserver part of it is the more optional. DNS ad blocking software tends to be a recursive resolver that returns 0.0.0.0 results for some unwanted domains. Unbound has the ability to do that (for the few domains I'm filtering entirely), and so I've stuck with that.
Not sure I understand returning 0.0.0.0. What if the user has some other servers listening.
I return the address of some server I control that is bound to a local address, e.g., an authoritative nameserver.
Compared to the available solutions this is way too much work for "most people", however from a purist perspective a self-managed DNS approach is not under the ultimate control of a browser-authoring, extension/app-approving company/organisation or some third party DNS provider.
Whether that even matters is debatable.
As long as these easy solutions keep working, there's no incentive to try a different approach.
Well, you weren't, but the OP is a Show HN by a company offering such a service.
> It is only an opinion, but I think the ability to wildcard all subdomains makes DNS-based methods of blocking trackers easier to manage
I dunno, I think for most people uBlock rules are going to be easier to handle then setting up their own DNS server. Sure, I have my own resolver too (Unbound), but since you need an ad blocker on top of that anyway, I just keep my rules in uBlock. The following is all you need to block all subdomains but allow the bare domain:
Or to allow www: