> Easily 2/3rds of the ones I visit work, FWIW.

I started blocking JS a few weeks ago, and this has been my experience as well - a pleasant surprise.

For a long time I thought that would be a step too far, that browsing would become so annoying and unpredictable because of it. Any annoyance from having to turn on JS for individual sites is easily outweighed by the number of annoyances I avoid - news websites are actually readable, blogs open with their content rather than with an in-your-face pop-up, and as a bonus, I pay attention to things like: how many 3rd party domains is it trying to connect to? does it require 3rd party JS to be enabled to function at all? did they even consider the possibility of disabled JS and bother to write a noscript message? Things like this translate to a measure of trustworthiness to me now, and I've been both horrified (by simple blogs trying to connect to 80+ domains) and pleasantly surprised (by complex-seeming websites that don't use 3rd party JS at all).

It's funny when the blocker says 99+ scripts blocked on a news site because it can't display more than two digits. Or when you end up with a black page because they didn't bother with a no-script version.

> Google works fine without javascript. Stunningly fast.

Until they block you for "suspicious behavior" after a few minutes of using it like that.

Genuine question- has that happened to you?

Yes! It also happens when I am not logged in, or use a VPN (though that is understandable).

But simply disabling javascript and clicking next a few times is usually enough to set off their blockages. Even when not using a VPN. It happens less if you only ever look at the first page.

It makes sense the fingerprint you create with javascript can identify you easily. Without that google treats you as suspect.

Interesting! Thanks for responding. I haven't had that happen to me yet, but I'm often using the same static IP I've had for years. Perhaps that keeps the trigger at bay.

DDG has a No Javascript based search.