ref removal breaks Steam support articles

[dubesor]

v1.22.0, Rules-Status: Up to date. Several times I had issues with steam support articles leading to dead links/error pages. After confirming it's not my adblocker nor any other extension I noticed ClearURLs is breaking those links. Example URL: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4045-USHJ-3810

The rule ([\/\?#]|(&|&))+((?:%3F)?ref_?=[^&]*) breaks every article, making it basically impossible to view any Steam Support pages.

Log example: {"log":[{"before":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php?ref=4045-USHJ-3810","after":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php","rule":"([\\/\\?#]|(&|&))+((?:%3F)?ref_?=[^&]*)","timestamp":1647086739761},{"before":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php?ref=8285-YOAZ-6049","after":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php","rule":"([\\/\\?#]|(&|&))+((?:%3F)?ref_?=[^&]*)","timestamp":1647087138489},{"before":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php?ref=2117-ilzv-2837","after":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php","rule":"([\\/\\?#]|(&|&))+((?:%3F)?ref_?=[^&]*)","timestamp":1647087140393},{"before":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php?ref=4045-USHJ-3810","after":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php","rule":"([\\/\\?#]|(&|&))+((?:%3F)?ref_?=[^&]*)","timestamp":1647087142101},{"before":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php?ref=6627-QSNM-5276","after":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php","rule":"([\\/\\?#]|(&|&))+((?:%3F)?ref_?=[^&]*)","timestamp":1647087144944},{"before":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php?ref=2037-QEUH-3335","after":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php","rule":"([\\/\\?#]|(&|&))+((?:%3F)?ref_?=[^&]*)","timestamp":1647087149374}]}

[ghost]

v1.22.0, Rules-Status: Up to date. Several times I had issues with steam support articles leading to dead links/error pages. After confirming it's not my adblocker nor any other extension I noticed ClearURLs is breaking those links. Example URL: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4045-USHJ-3810

The rule ([\/\?#]|(&|&))+((?:%3F)?ref_?=[^&]*) breaks every article, making it basically impossible to view any Steam Support pages.

Log example: {"log":[{"before":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php?ref=4045-USHJ-3810","after":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php","rule":"([\\/\\?#]|(&|&))+((?:%3F)?ref_?=[^&]*)","timestamp":1647086739761},{"before":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php?ref=8285-YOAZ-6049","after":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php","rule":"([\\/\\?#]|(&|&))+((?:%3F)?ref_?=[^&]*)","timestamp":1647087138489},{"before":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php?ref=2117-ilzv-2837","after":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php","rule":"([\\/\\?#]|(&|&))+((?:%3F)?ref_?=[^&]*)","timestamp":1647087140393},{"before":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php?ref=4045-USHJ-3810","after":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php","rule":"([\\/\\?#]|(&|&))+((?:%3F)?ref_?=[^&]*)","timestamp":1647087142101},{"before":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php?ref=6627-QSNM-5276","after":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php","rule":"([\\/\\?#]|(&|&))+((?:%3F)?ref_?=[^&]*)","timestamp":1647087144944},{"before":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php?ref=2037-QEUH-3335","after":"https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php","rule":"([\\/\\?#]|(&|&))+((?:%3F)?ref_?=[^&]*)","timestamp":1647087149374}]}

I am getting the same - It also took me ages to find the cause. Not happy.

https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php?ref=8620-QYAL-4516	https://help.steampowered.com/redirects/kb_article.php	(?:%3F)?ref_?	22/04/2022, 16:41:34

Et voila - Broken support pages.

Also, I don't think that blanket blocking ALL 'ref=' parameters is going to end well :/

Really, Steam should probably not use 'ref', but rather 'id'... But they won't listen.

Can we please whitelist/exclude domains? Rules per-domain?

If not, I will remove it due to it breaking web sites (and getting me a bad reputation as I have been blaming Valve for their bad site.)

...Now you must excuse me, I have to go and apologise to a long list of people I just wrongly argued with...

I will no longer be assuming that relatively simple programs are relatively more reliable. More fool me.

[risto42]

I also have problems with this, retrieving invoices from e-facture.net, for example, block because of the rule: ([\/\?#]|(&|&))+((?:%3F)?ref_?=[^&]*) This also took me quite awhile to determine the cause... what is the justification for this rule on a global basis?

[casta]

Hello,

I also have an issue with “dolibarr CRM” link that is use to allow my customers to validate my commercial proposals (online signature). It uses “ref=” to identify the proposal, thus this rule is breaking the whole thing:

For me, this rule is far too generic to be global. Thank’s !