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Connections #1232 2026-10-25 (thelemmy.club)
submitted 6 days ago by [B] to c/dailygames@lemmy.zip
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https://www.nytimes.com/games/connections

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[–] 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (7 children)

I was wondering why this post was getting downvoted, but then I realized it was probably because of the ad in the screenshot. The ads are why I quit playing the NYT daily games, they got so annoying.

I'm not sure if there's a workaround for the bot to not get the ads in the screenshot, but maybe someone can figure it out? Or maybe the screenshot isn't necessary at all, and the bot can just post the link, which will show a preview image instead of a screenshot. If I can remember who runs the bot I'll try to tag them.

Edit @Zagorath@aussie.zone I think?

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  • [–] 3 points 5 days ago (5 children)

    Ah FFS. I really think I need some other approach here, because the current approach is so fragile. NYT constantly tweaks their HTML, changing IDs and classes, and in new components, etc. Every time they do the bot stops working properly with its current simplistic approach.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 days ago (1 child)

    Thanks for looking into this. The ads started to get annoying.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 days ago

    I just deployed a change. My testing seemed to work, but because of the environment I'm running it on there's a real chance it doesn't run at all or messes up in some other way. If I forget to check at the appropriate time tomorrow, I'd greatly appreciate anyone who happens to notice the bot failed to post letting me know here or (even better!) on my current main account: @Zagorath@quokk.au

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  • [–] 5 points 5 days ago (2 children)

    FWIW, a simple DNS ad blocker works for the NYT games app. Mine is behind pihole.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    Oh that's a handy tip. I actually just started using a pihole for my desktop and mobile devices very recently. Will have to figure out how to get my Synology's Docker containers to use it too.

    That said, I have to say I'd be a little surprised if it fixed this. I had a quick look at the browser's network inspector and it seemed as though the requests are coming from the same domain?

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  • [–] 2 points 4 days ago

    the requests are coming from the same domain?

    Hmm, can't help there. All I know is I didn't see ads on the Android app behind pihole, but there might have been an empty screen to click through. I've had a paid account for a bit, though, and maybe something has changed.

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